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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25030060">Recalibrate</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cober_1/pseuds/Cober_1'>Cober_1</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Beastars, ビースターズ | BEASTARS</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Daddy Issues, Drug Addiction, Dysfunctional Family, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Gang Violence, Gangs, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Mommy Issues, Self-Esteem Issues, Suicide, Suicide Attempt, Suicide Notes, To Read</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 08:13:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>30,238</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25030060</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cober_1/pseuds/Cober_1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>On a second trip to the mask party, Legosi accidentally reunites with someone that he’s known for a very long time. On top of managing his relationship with Haru and trying to eradicate his criminal record by tracking and capturing Melon, Legosi is now forced to address an aged sleuth of bridled vehemence.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Canon Ships - Relationship, Haru/Legosi (BEASTARS)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>104</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. I Can’t Breath With This Mask On</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>My first BEASTARS fic! I was inspired by the BEASTARS discord to write something of my own.</p><p>WARNING:</p><p>While containing no NSFW content, this fic may contain adult themes such as (but not limited to) alcoholism, addiction, anxiety/depression, seduction, and suicide. Please do not continue further if any of these themes cause a poor reaction in you.</p><p>If you are struggling with any of these themes, there is help for you, including the National Suicide Hotline and many, MANY others. Please prioritize your health.</p><p>Comments are 100% welcome!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>~~~<br/>
</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I want you to see what kind of animal is given life from a carnivore and herbivore’s love.”</em>
</p><p>Yafya’s words ran another lap in Legosi’s mind as the wolf and horse pair entered the second mask party, this time the wolf in a white tuxedo and a giraffe mask, and the horse in a red-velvet suit and a tiger mask.</p><p>After being shot by Melon, his mother’s supernatural visitation, and walking from where he’d been hospitalized, Yafya had been reluctant to give the young wolf another chance at erasing his criminal record. The results of the previous excursion cost him thousands of dollars (since he’d paid the medical bill in full) and many hours of precious time. In the end, it was Yafya’s theory that the time it took for Legosi to recover (even though it was much sooner than expected) was enough for Melon to reorganize himself and be more at ease to show his face in the place where he’d been sponsoring the previous mask parties. It also went without saying that Melon likely thought Legosi to be dead. Thus, after many pleas from Legosi, Yafya consented, suggesting they split up earlier to avoid suspicion from Melon. He’d be a lot more watchful now.</p><p>They separated, Legosi once again roaming the middle of the floor, in the entangled mob of animals. Legosi had seen the gazelle-leopard hybrid and even talked to him, confided in him the secret only he, Jack, and his grandpa knew about his reptilian heritage. Embarrassment still boiled in his veins at his foolishness: he’d almost <em> died </em>because-</p><p>“Oof!”</p><p>The animal who ran into him fell backward, drink spilling and glass shattering on the black and white tile floor. A small circle of chattering and catcalling animals enveloped in a circle around them, as if morphing and adapting subconsciously to the accident in their drunkenness.</p><p>“Erm, excuse me,” Legosi yelped, slowly edging around the small animal in an okapi mask. <em> No, no, no! I’m already drawing attention to myself! </em>He glanced about, vision darting this way and that. No one around him seemed to care about the accident, so he relaxed slightly, recalling when Yafya had slammed him into the wall the last time they were here. It only caught animals’ attention for a second.</p><p>“Oh, <em> no, </em> it’s fine,” the small herbivore chuckled, pulling themself off the floor. “I shouldn’t’ve fallen, I shouldn’t’ve.” The animal’s head stopped moving for a moment when their mask faced him, making Legosi freeze. “Ah, giraffe!” the face behind the mask roared animatedly, clapping their hands inappropriately loudly. “I love giraffes! They’re such fine creatures! Say,” the animal added, turning slightly and cocking their hip towards Legosi. “You wouldn’t happen to be… <em> taken, </em> would you?” they asked, sliding towards the wolf as their tone lilted. “I know a good place where we can-”</p><p>The animal’s voice faded as Legosi caught the animal’s individual scent, storing it in his scent vault as his nose sniffed through the mask. <em> Female dwarf rabbit, 137 centimeters tall, and no more than 20 centimeters wide, mostly tan with white patches, no older than 27, </em> Legosi observed with his eyes shut. <em> Bigger than Haru. Haru </em> is <em> smaller than most dwarf rabbit’s, though- </em></p><p>“What do you say?” The she-rabbit’s suddenly closer voice snapped him out of his analysis, and he found that he was looking down at her now, the female now uncomfortably close to his pelvis, reminding him terribly of when Haru misunderstood Legosi’s intents in the greenroom at Cherryton. She reached out her small hand, laying it on his left thigh. “Let’s get away from all this, shall we?”</p><p>Legosi clenched his jaw, fists instinctively balling up as his upper body recoiled away from her. <em> Haru wasn’t ever like this! </em> He thought, millions of different thoughts bouncing around in his mind as a warm sensation raced within him upon her contact. <em> Wait, when we first met at school...</em></p><p>“Heh, erm, excuse me,” he chuckled nervously, clearing his throat and putting his giant hand on the rabbit’s okapi mask. “I must be going. I-I have errands, to… run.” He gently pushed her back, skirting around her and raising his hand when he turned his back on her. “Bye! H-have a good night,” he waved, leaving the rabbit frozen in the middle of the floor.</p><p>Legosi inhaled, holding his breath. <em> I just reacted like I did with Haru when she tried to approach me like that first… why did my herbivore fetish have to crop up now…? </em> He pointed his nose around him, scanning his surroundings for a place to blend in. <em> Better than the last time a girl tried to ask me out in this dump, though.</em></p><p>He nearly tripped over another animal - a mongoose, from the looks of it - and walked in between what seemed to be a tense interaction (by the looks he got from the two males involved) before finally finding a place to seat himself. He placed himself on a worn, round and red seat, laying his elbows and interlocking his fingers subconsciously on the cutting-board counter in front of him. He closed his eyes in thought, taking another deep breath, this time letting it out slowly. <em> Why am I such a pervert? My body wanted to go with that she-rabbit… why did Melon have to hide here of all places? Ugh.</em></p><p>His brooding was interrupted by the sound of scraping and a cool, solid sensation on his hand, causing Legosi to open his eyes. A glass had been slid to him, filled to the brim with what seemed to be cherry <em> chuhai. </em>His eyes widened marginally as he registered his surroundings - animals everywhere, leaning on each other, singing songs together while lifting their glasses, a man polishing the dishes, the potent stench of alcohol.</p><p>
  <em> A bar? </em>
</p><p>He took a look in front of him, now noticing the wall of barrels, taps of alcohol and the glasses that were used to serve the beverages. Of course there was a bar in a sensual, intramural species mask party. Legosi briefly remembered the female wolf and zebra that were seated next to him the first time he infiltrated the party - it would make sense to suppress carnivores’ instincts with a sedative such as alcohol, or else <em> that </em>interaction would have gone much more poorly. He also remembered the last time he saw the liquor in front of him - he’d declined it at the rice-cake party on top of the Hidden Condo. Now that he thought of it, it was no wonder that Melon hid here. He turned his head right, away from the singing animals, to find several female cheetahs chattering away to who must be the bartender, who had been polishing the glasses and plates.</p><p>A second and more careful look at the bartender revealed that he was a massive gray wolf, with a cold, stern, steel gray-eyed leer. The muscular arms he used to polish the glasses were crossed upon his broad chest, and his ears were pricked at attention, listening to what the cheetahs had to say. He also noticed the bartender kept himself trimmed, much like how Gouhin had cut Legosi’s hair during training. The most notable quality that stuck out to Legosi the most was the lack of a mask.</p><p>“You know what, you’re right! We definitely need to confront him about our wages - right, ladies?” one of the cheetahs <em> mrrowed </em> to the others. A chorus of agreement escaped from the others, and the cheetah who seemed to be the ringleader nodded in her chameleon mask. “Thanks, Gloomy! I think we need to pay that con artist tiger a visit! If it means anything,” she added, lifting her shoulder, “I think the rumors about your last career are bogus. I think you’d have made a better therapist.” Laughing, the coalition stood up from their seats and made their way to the exit.</p><p>The bartender - named <em> Gloomy, </em>apparently - didn’t even blink as the cheetahs left. He promptly returned to his duty, walking to the small mountain of dishes behind him that piled up and needed washing.</p><p>Legosi’s gaze fixated on the other gray wolf, mouth slightly agape. <em> He didn’t even respond to them, or say any words, </em> Legosi pondered. <em> How…? </em></p><p>“You aren’t drinking.”</p><p>Legosi’s eyes widened when Gloomy spoke to him. His nearly-lifeless gaze pierced through his mask, as if he wasn’t wearing a mask, and he was making eye contact instead.</p><p>“U-uh, sorry, I don’t really… drink,” Legosi stuttered breathlessly, breaking eye contact and looking down at his <em> chuhai. </em></p><p>Gloomy’s eyes narrowed as he polished the last dish and placed the dishes on their respective dish stacks. “How old are you?” he rumbled lowly when he finished, turning around evenly and crossing his pinstripe-suit covered arms again.</p><p><em> Don’t give away any information that might be used to track you in the future, </em> Yafya had said. <em> Who we’re dealing with will remember this information and use it against you if they feel so inclined. </em></p><p>“Eighteen.”</p><p>
  <em> Crap! </em>
</p><p>Gloomy nodded slowly, turning to the barrels once more. Within a split second, he snatched the <em> chuhai </em>and replaced it with a glass of water.</p><p>Legosi stared at his glass of water in shock, mouth falling open wider. “Uhm, th-thank you,” he thanked, and, refusing to be rude and reject a second drink, took an obligatory sip. It tasted clearer than the water back at Cherryton school - though he wondered how he remembered what the water tasted like.</p><p>Gloomy stood still, as if at attention and expectant of something to happen. When Legosi noticed the quiet tension, he looked up from the water, meeting the older wolf’s look with a hesitant one of his own, though he knew he couldn’t see it.</p><p>After a moment of silence from the two, Gloomy blinked. “What are you doing here?” he spoke flatly.</p><p>“Huh?”</p><p>“You’re clearly not here for any sort of debauchery,” he explained, maintaining his monotonous vocal patterns. “Your slouch and rejection of that rabbit suggests so, at least,” he added, unfolding his arms and placing them straight at his sides. “Which was a good choice, by the way - that rabbit would have robbed you blind of all your yen before you even slept with her.”</p><p>Legosi blinked in shock, lacing his fingers together and squeezing them.</p><p>“And you don’t drink alcohol.” He turned away from Legosi and filled a glass with <em> soka, </em>placing it in the hands of an already drunk looking rhino with a mouse mask (“That’s your last drink, Shosa”). “What are you doing here?” he repeated, leaning his bulky body on the counter in front of Legosi and putting his face closer to his.</p><p>Legosi took a draught of air to his lungs, unaware that he’d been holding his breath. Had he been caught trying to find Melon that quickly? Would he warn Melon if he told the truth? Would he believe a lie? Should he take one for the team so Yafya would at least get away? He found himself lost in his eyes, trying to study every fiber of their color and shape.</p><p>Gloomy frowned, slowly taking himself off the counter. “Whatever your intentions are, you are too young to be here. You should leave.” Gloomy began to pace away, turning toward the group of singing animals silently.</p><p>“W-wait!” Legosi abruptly called, coughing when Gloomy turned. “H-how’d you do <em> that? </em> With the cheetahs. You said <em> nothing, </em>but they thanked you for your... help.” He flung his hand hopelessly to where the cheetahs had been just moments earlier, staring expectantly at Gloomy.</p><p>Gloomy blinked, arms still at his side. “Listening,” he answered promptly. “Listening to drunk animals is how you deal with them. Listening, not trying to help them, but just lending your ear to their woes.” He looked past Legosi. “There’s not an animal that comes to these parties that doesn’t have an otherwise inescapable issue - internal or external. They’ll party all night if it means a temporary escape to their misery.” He took out a handkerchief and wiped his forehead. “You’ll find that listening is the key to communication in the outside world, as well.” He rubbed his head. “You seem to be a good listener already, kid - I haven’t talked without being interrupted in a while. Heh, it’s probably because you’re not drunk...”</p><p>Legosi absorbed that information, tucking it into a pocket in his mind. <em> I’d better try that on Haru one day. </em></p><p>“You know, I could ask you what <em> you’re </em>doing here,” Legosi found himself saying, turning his head. “You wouldn’t look like a bartender to me if I never saw you here. What are you, really?”</p><p>Gloomy’s eye-brow rose, and Legosi freezed at his question, mouth ajar. He closed it with his hands and covered his face in embarrassment. <em> What the…? </em></p><p>“You <em> were </em> paying attention, then,” Gloomy rumbled, folding his arms again as his small pupils met his eye contact. “Why do you-” he started aggressively. Something made Gloomy stop his words, making his features droop into a darker countenance as he let out a breath. “...I was a model and an actor for fifteen years before the media blew up about carnivore violence. Predation became a politicized term, and I was fired shortly after.” Gloomy sighed lightly, the sound almost purring from deep within his chest. “They replaced me for a two-bit gazelle actor for the sake of their <em> herbivore empowerment. </em>” He scoffed at the words, unfolding his arms when a sleuth of customers emerged from the crowd in the middle. He quickly put his bartender face back on and began serving those who came.</p><p>Legosi had unknowingly gripped his hands tighter as the older wolf spoke. Recognizing this when Gloomy went away, he unlatched his fingers and let out a breath, quickly slipping the glass to the opening in his mask to drink.</p><p>
  <em> Model… </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Actor… </em>
</p><p>He put the glass down harder than he needed to by accident, shocking himself and causing some of the newcomers to jump and stare at Legosi.</p><p>
  <em> Say, Legosi… what is your family structure? </em>
</p><p>The memory of Gouhin appeared to him vaguely, a lifetime ago’s conversation.</p><p>
  <em> When I was 12, my mom passed away and my dad ran away. I was raised by my grandpa. Just us… all alone… </em>
</p><p>
  <em> But really... I don’t have any fond memories with him. </em>
</p><p>Legosi folded his fingers together again, looking down into his glass. Could this be…?</p><p>No, of course it couldn’t. Legosi took a deep breath, letting it out slowly in an attempt to sooth the adrenaline that had seeped into his nerves. <em> It couldn’t possibly be, it couldn’t possibly be- </em></p><p>“Kid.”</p><p>Legosi, snapped his head up, neck suddenly sore from carrying the weight of the giraffe mask. “U-um...” he took up the cup and took another drink of water, finishing the rest down in one gulp.</p><p>Gloomy just stood in front of him, folding his arms and staring down through Legosi’s mask and into his actual eyes, likely waiting for a response.</p><p>
  <em> I’m- </em>
</p><p>“Were you married to Leano-chan until she killed herself?” he spouted, unable to contain the question any longer. His eyes, though he knew Gloomy couldn’t see them, hardened, and his fist clenched itself underneath the counter. Faces started turning from the song and usual banter of the bar.</p><p>
  <em> Sorry- </em>
</p><p>Gloomy stepped back, eyes widening in genuine shock as his arms released themselves from his chest. He quickly stared the other animals down, making them all look away uncomfortably. “...<em> Who are you?” </em>He quietly snarled, bending over slightly and taking off his gloves, stuffing them in his back pocket.</p><p>The adrenaline came back, any effort to stomp it out vanquished as it filled his blood, filled his mind - he was, for a moment, conscious of every beat of his heart, his arteries, carrying out the adrenaline through his body.</p><p>
  <em> Grandpa. </em>
</p><p>The empty glass in his hand shattered.</p><p>Hardly noticing and hardly caring, he stood up straight past his usual hunch, standing taller than Gloomy by about an inch or two.</p><p><em> 175 centimeters tall, 30 centimeters wide, bite strength = 400 kilograms, </em> he calculated. <em> Would go for the legs first, since I’m taller, but since he’s behind a counter, it’s likely he’ll spring at me. </em></p><p>More animals began to pause their hedonism and to look to the sudden commotion at the counter.</p><p>Suddenly forgetting about Melon, Yafya, and his criminal record and the mission, he reached behind his blackish mask and unzipped it from the bottom up, casting it off to the side. His vision blurred a little as more adrenaline made its way to his head, making him look down at Gloomy and narrow his eyes angrily, pupils shrinking beyond their normal size.</p><p>
  <em> “Remember me?” </em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. A Slightly Off-Pitch Tune</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey!<br/>I expected people to see my writing, of course, as this is a fanfiction site, but I did not expect the almost overwhelming amount of support I got! Thank you guys, and shout out to the folks at the Beastars Discord for helping me with the process.<br/>I did get valuable feedback, and I felt as if I should clarify something (MANGA SPOILERS):<br/>This fic is designed off the plot where Legosi's father left when he was 12, after Leano's passing. That got retconned, which means Paru (the author of BEASTARS) changed it to where Legosi was the result of a one night stand with Leano. This fic is based off the premise that Miyagi didn't get retconned into obscurity, as that would make for a much more interesting result for this fic.<br/>Manga spoilers throughout the fic, of course! Thank you all for your wonderful support! I will be trying to upload weekly, but obvious this time I'm about and hour 20 minutes late. Yes, it is almost 1:20 AM.<br/>As I learn how to use this site, I will mark all of your comments as "read!" I have read all of your comments, and I appreciated them all I even watched the YouTube link one of you sent me - which was VERY helpful in planning for future chapters, thanks!<br/>Alright, onto the story!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><span class="u">Chapter 2:</span> A Slightly Off-Pitch Tune</p>
<p>~~~</p>
<p>Wrath.</p>
<p>The burning, seething notion that blossomed in the pit of his stomach, profusely bleeding like an old wound that had been reopened deeper than the scar. The bitter and thorny rise of it, choking and slicing his throat. The hellfire that singed his consciousness, numbed his mind to anything else besides it. The self-destructive, silent executioner of the soul that wreaks more havoc to the victim it seeded itself in more than the target of wrath, when left untamed.</p>
<p>Its work had manifested itself in Legosi when he ripped his mask off.</p>
<p>“It’s been... six years, <em> Gloomy, </em>” Legosi growled lowly, clenching the fist which had shattered his glass, feeling the razored edges cut into his flesh.</p>
<p>The older wolf blinked, eyes widening marginally. “You need to leave,” he growled, balling his own fists. “I thought you didn’t drink; you’re obviously drunk-”</p>
<p>“2012,” Legosi interrupted, spreading his feet shoulder-width apart. “February 16th. The day of the funeral, and the day after you ran away.”</p>
<p>Gloomy’s eyes widened more, baring his fangs as his ears flattened against his skull. “Who are you?” he snarled, leaning over and slamming his hands on the counter. “Stop playing games with me and-”</p>
<p>“Are you sure <em> you’re </em> not drunk?” Legosi spat back, slamming his own hands on the counter and leaning close to Gloomy’s face. “Look at me. <em> Tell </em>me who I am.”</p>
<p>By now, most of the animals had forgotten their drinks and partners and were all eavesdropping on the commotion at the bar, ears pricked and tilted toward Legosi and Gloomy as concerned whispers filled the empty space. The bartender, eyes widened incredulously, scrutinized the other wolf’s face, eyes darting across his face until he looked Legosi in the eye. Recognition and horror slowly spread across his face, mouth slowly gaping open and ears perking erectly.</p>
<p>
  <em> “...Legosi?” </em>
</p>
<p>The younger wolf blinked, and suddenly Gloomy had staggered back, Legosi’s hand hanging in the air. He drew his hand back, shaking it slightly from the impact on his father’s face.</p>
<p>The bartender quickly shook himself out of his daze and retaliated, sending his fist at lightning speed to Legosi, who was unable to react in time before he was sent swaying back.</p>
<p>“Leave. Now.” Gloomy barked, drawing his hand back to wipe the blood streaming from his nose. “Do not come back. That was a warning. I will force you out myself if you do not leave now.”</p>
<p>“What’s the matter, <em> Miyagi? </em> <em>”</em> Legosi retorted, dragging himself off the floor, eye throbbing. He tiled up his chin, looking down at him with his irritated eye. “You think you can take me on? You couldn’t handle me when I was twelve - what makes you think you can <em> now?” </em></p>
<p>With a roar, Miyagi leaped onto the counter and sprung off of it toward Legosi. He was ready this time, catching him by the arm and throwing him over his shoulder and slamming him by the head into the tile with his other hand, spiderweb cracks appearing on the flooring.</p>
<p>The spectators of the scene backed away in shock, some staring wide-eyed at the situation, some taking their partners by the hands and leading them out of the party, others whipping out their phones and recording the fight, pointing ecstatically.</p>
<p>Miyagi threw a kick into Legosi’s gut, making him let go as he was sent backwards. Hand-springing to his feet, he rushed Legosi, slamming his fist in the same spot, making Legosi retch and fall to his knees while clutching his stomach. Showing no mercy, the older wolf put his knee to Legosi’s teeth, sending him down on his back as his dentures flew out of his mouth.</p>
<p>Miyagi paused in his shock, freezing in his stance and staring at the fake teeth in disbelief. Legosi took the opportunity and pushed his body back up with a growl, slamming into Miyagi with his full force, sending the unprepared wolf back on flat his own back.</p>
<p>Legosi was briefly reminded of the second day of the <em> Adler </em>drama, about a year ago at Cherryton Academy. Legosi had been in this situation before, on top of Bill because of the rabbit blood he’d doped himself on. Here he was again, on top of his father for what he’d done to him and Gosha.</p>
<p>“You took <em> eweyting </em> wome me when oo wef!” Legosi shouted in his face, forgetting about the onlookers as he drooled from the lack of dentures. “You wef me woh <em> dead </em> , not ewen caweing about your <em> child </em> who admired you tho much!” Legosi paused, slurping up his spit sloppily and gasping for air. “I di-id ewen hawwa pwathe thoo <em> cry </em> , you <em> bad-ter.” </em>He reeled his hand back, squeezing his eyes shut as he let his hand loose, losing his sense of restraint as he followed the attack up.</p>
<p>Losing himself as his fists pounded on Miyagi’s face, he felt separated from his body, as if he were several feet away and standing like the onlookers, who were either shocked and silent or excited and cheering.</p>
<p>
  <em> Thud. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Thud. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Thud. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Thud. </em>
</p>
<p>The only thing he felt at that moment was the contact he made with Miyagi. Not the physical pain that he should be feeling on his hands. Contact.</p>
<p><em> “I wanted it to stay that way,” Legosi mumbled through the egg sandwich in his mouth, setting  </em> <em> his foot on the stair his other one was propped on. </em></p>
<p>
  <em> Jack turned his head, peeking his ears. “Huh?” he asked, tilting his head slightly. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> “Always getting down and getting back up on my own… living without anyone knowing how I feel.” Legosi swallowed his bite and looked down at the sandwich, feeling his hunger ebb away. “But yesterday was different. For the first time in my life, I felt that I just couldn’t let it go. I wanted to vent my anger, even if that meant throwing the stage into chaos.” He stood up, pacing a step or two from the stairs. “I didn’t want to control myself…” </em>
</p>
<p>Jack had encouraged him that day after his violent change on stage, saying Legosi had been the most alive he’d seen him.</p>
<p>Now, as he looked at himself from the several feet away he found himself now, dread and disgust spread across his chest, wrapping itself around his rib cage. <em> I <span class="u">want</span> to control myself. I don’t </em> <em> want </em> <em> to throw this stage into chaos. This isn’t Bill at the school. This makes no sense, and animals are watching… </em></p>
<p>Legosi felt different thud, and he noticed this time he didn’t follow up. That realization snapped him back to reality, seeing through his own eyes again when he opened them.</p>
<p>“I don’t know <em> why </em> you’re here,” Miyagi grunted, Legosi’s fist in his right hand.  “Or how you found me.” He gasped for air, pushing Legosi’s hand back some more as his eyes narrowed. “But…” he sighed, leaning his head back. “You need to go.” His blackened eyes rounded some, his facial features softening some.</p>
<p>Legosi let out a breath, eyes widening and heart clenching in his chest, suddenly feeling the violent strength draining out of his system. Staring at the wolf who had traumatized him, the wolf who was the base of much of his insecurities because of his sudden departure from his life; hearing him say those words made Legosi want to obey. He trembled from rage, yet those simple words spoken so calmly had pierced through that. And before he knew it-</p>
<p>Legosi perked his ears, a flash in the corner of his eye catching his attention. Legosi felt a sharp thud, and flew through the air, landing on his side and clutching his ribs where he’d been shot. He felt fire pulse through the spot again, and another round of adrenaline began to kick in - that son of a-</p>
<p>A tall male in a red-velvet suit stood before him, the double-barrel of his gun even closer to his face. Legosi looked up slowly, sitting up and beginning to raise his hands until he caught eye of the tiger mask the animal donned.</p>
<p>“Y-yaf-”</p>
<p>Crack!</p>
<p>Legosi crippled to the floor, the ground rushing to meet his head when the horse struck him with the gun. Everything spun for a moment, until he made out the figure of Yafya pointing his gun at Miyagi.</p>
<p>“No!”</p>
<p>Yafya turned to Legosi, who attempted to pull himself up unsuccessfully. “...wait…”</p>
<p>Yafya turned back to the other wolf, offering his hand. Miyagi accepted it, bringing himself back up to his feet.</p>
<p>Miyagi must have said something that put the crowd at ease, because everyone seemed to disperse and go back to their normal habits of the night. Legosi couldn’t see, however, and his ears were ringing from the gun.</p>
<p>The only thing he could make out clearly was Yafya’s form getting larger as he approached him, and the clear words he spoke.</p>
<p>“Get up.”</p>
<p>---</p>
<p>“What <em> happened </em>with you?”</p>
<p>The black-leather couch, which was more uncomfortable than it looked, was immaculately clean and well placed in Yafya’s top-floor office, where Yafya had made him beg for his life and where Legosi had pulled his teeth out. He noticed now that it doubled as his bedroom, an elegant, purpled draped horse sized bed against the wall.</p>
<p>Yafya had teared his mask off and threw it on the floor, along with his designer jacket. “How did you manage to pick a fight with the <em> bartender?” </em> His angrily narrowed eyes shone with contempt, nostrils flaring with each breath. “You jeopardized the mission by doing that. I thought you wanted your <em> criminal record </em>erased. You aren’t going to go a lot of places with a predation charge on your file.”</p>
<p>Legosi decided to not make eye contact yet, his head hung low and his left shoulder slouched. His right hand covered his black eye with an ice pack Yafya had thrown at him. “I’m sorry I sabotaged the mission,” he spoke carefully. “I didn’t <em> mean </em> to… but something in me lost control at the bartender.” He thought back to that moment in time - what <em> had </em> made Legosi lash out so extremely? Was it pent up emotion? No, he felt it still, like at Cherryton; it wasn’t released. Anger <em> at </em>Miyagi? While this seemed the most obvious answer, something within him told him that wasn’t quite the answer, either - all the sleepless nights following Leano’s death were only filled with confusion and melancholia. Whenever he thought of his father in the school dorms at night, he only felt a sense of hollowness, as if he was subconsciously blocking himself from thinking about it. Jack had caught him like that, once.</p>
<p>Perhaps he never gave himself the opportunity to be angry until then? Had his wrath faded from his consciousness, not his heart, and revived itself with a fervor?</p>
<p>“<em> Why </em> in the name of Rex did you <em> decide to direct all the attention </em> towards you because of something happening between you and a bartender?” Yafya shouted, arms sharply gesturing his lividness. “What could a bartender have said to piss you off? Even when I was about to <em> shoot </em> you last time we were here, your temperament hardly <em> changed! </em>” He began pacing the floor. “Anyways, I didn’t see him before or after the party, so he may have not been there in the first place, or he may have left when you went off your rocker…” He stopped at the large window overlooking the city, putting his hand to his chin ponderously.</p>
<p>“You may leave.”</p>
<p>Legosi perked his ears, head shooting up as his eyes widened. “H-huh?” he asked dumbly, eye throbbing in protest from his sudden movement.</p>
<p>“Leave. I have no need for you now.” Yafya turned his head, eyeballing Legosi threateningly. “Don’t bother coming back.”</p>
<p>“What?” Legosi bolted up, tail standing stiff as both his arms stiffened. “B-but what about my record-”</p>
<p>“Your record will remain as is,” Yafya cut him off, turning from his spot and pacing slowly towards Legosi. “We have not caught Melon, yet, and you have put yourself at risk and ruined the entire mission twice. As Beastar, I cannot afford to make that mistake again.” Standing a pace or two in front of Legosi, his eyes narrowed as his hand moved to the firearm at his hip. “I thought Gosha taught you better.”</p>
<p>Legosi physically recoiled at the personal remark, taking a step back. Quickly recovering, he offered a stiff bow. “Excuse my immaturity and irrationality. I hope you put Melon to justice,” he added meekly, swiftly turning on his heel and marching out the door. </p>
<p>As soon as he shut the door, he let out a breath, exhaustion coating his muscles and energy leaking from his system all at once. A million thoughts raced through his mind as he walked down the long corridor towards the elevator. He chose to ignore the stares he got from other animals.</p>
<p>
  <em> What time is it? </em>
</p>
<p>He pulled out the cellphone in his pocket, which was miraculously unharmed, and clicked the button on the side. He was greeted with a cheerful picture of everyone from Room 701, the numbers <em> 2:18 </em>reading at the top.</p>
<p>He clicked his phone off, staring at the reflection disdainfully. Work was going to be a pain in the tail tomorrow, he knew. He might be sent home or confined to janitorial work from his black eye.</p>
<p>
  <em> Black eye. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> The ice pack! </em>
</p>
<p>He started at his hand through his screen, anxiety seizing his chest. He whipped himself around 180 degrees and speed-walked back to Yafya’s office. Not bothering to knock, he opened the door and placed it on the nearest table.</p>
<p>“Here’s your ice pack back!” he said shakily. “A-and… I’ll wash my blood off this suit and give it back to you, too.” He quickly saw himself out once more, leaving a wide-eyed, shocked, and almost fully undressed Yafya.</p>
<p>---</p>
<p>He woke to the sound of his alarm crooning its usual monotonous tune. Groaning, he reached up and swatted at the snooze button until he hit it. He attempted to pull himself out of his bed, groaning in pain when aches wracked his body, causing him to plop back on his bed.</p>
<p>
  <em> I never knew you used your stomach muscles to get out of bed… </em>
</p>
<p>He took another more ginger approach to getting up, this time successful, finding himself in the mirror he’d set up by his bed. He flinched at his beaten-up appearance - along with the black eye, which had worsened in its purpleness overnight, he was heavily bruised on his arms and stomach, and his old bullet wound that Yafya kicked was especially red and tender; his knees were slightly damaged, and his head where Miyagi had kicked his dentures out was swollen. Yafya’s gun had also left a nasty goosebump.</p>
<p>
  <em> I can’t go to work like this. </em>
</p>
<p>He picked up his phone out of the jacket he’d messily dropped from his exhaustion the night before, taking the time to hang up the rest of the white suit, and dialed his boss. It rang several times before he realized he hadn’t put on his dentures - so he slipped them on as soon as the owl answered, letting him know he was calling in sick.</p>
<p>“And… I think I need to use the week of my paid leave.”</p>
<p>“Why?” the owl asked, his surprise evident in his sudden high pitch. “You’ve never missed a shift before. You won’t get to use that for the rest of the year, you know.”</p>
<p>“I-I know,” Legosi sighed, bringing his free hand to his head and rubbing it. “A family emergency came up in the middle of the night, and I need to be there for them.”</p>
<p>“O-oh!” the owl laughed awkwardly. “Okay. Right, that’s okay… I’ll let everyone know, then. I hope everything turns out okay.” Legosi thanked the small bird and hung up after exchanging farewells, closing his eyes.</p>
<p>Only one thought entered his mind after a moment: he needed <em>sleep.</em> Turning to his bed, went there and set his alarm, which read <em>5:25 AM </em>in its vivid green blocky font, to <em>10:00 AM </em>- that seemed like a reasonable time to get up for the day after last night’s excursion. He plopped belly-first on his bed, forgetting about his wounds, and grunted, rolling over on his left side as he squeezed his eyes shut, which only made his eye throb worse.</p>
<p>After the pain subsided, he found sleep more easily than when he first arrived, at 3:00 AM.</p>
<p>---</p>
<p>On the third night of his time off, most of his wounds had paled significantly. His bruises were far less prominent, and his stomach didn’t feel as painful - he could get out of bed without collapsing and needing to catch his breath anymore; his goose bump had gone down, though it was still sensitive to the touch. His eye was the only thing besides his old bullet wound that still stung. The color of his eyes had adopted a more reddish color, and it had swollen a lot more since he called in. His bullet wound, while not opened like it had been when he got shot, was still sore - horses kicked <em> hard, </em> and since Yafya was <em> Beastar </em> and decided to kick where he’d been shot, the wound sometimes would remind Legosi of that fact at random intervals of the day.</p>
<p>He didn’t leave his little apartment since the incident at the mask party - he thought there was no need to. Plus, walking around with his eye was bound to attract attention he was sure he didn’t want, and animals who went to the party that pretended they had normal lives might recognize him. He wasn’t sure if the police got involved, either. Fortunately, his refrigerator was packed from his last paycheck, so he had enough to eat and drink.</p>
<p>The only animal that he’d let in was Zanguan, the spotted seal who’s teaching on Seaspeak had saved his life (there was no way he could ever tell that semi-aquatic animal “no,” in the first place). He had to quickly make up a story that he got in a fight with a local thug, which he felt bad for, but something told Legosi that Zanguan knew it was a lie, which only made him feel worse when he didn't press it and when he left. He wasn’t sure he could tolerate Sebun’s presence, as nice as she’d been to him and as much as they were friends - that dwarf rabbit girl at the party rubbed Legosi the wrong way, so he wasn’t sure he could handle herbivores at the moment, especially females. He wasn’t close enough to his other Hidden Condo neighbors for them to bother to check on him, which he didn’t mind.</p>
<p>After being with himself for the larger portion of three days, a small list of things had become apparent to him. He knew he couldn’t hide this incident from everybody - he’d already texted Jack about it, though not in too much detail:</p>
<p>
  <em> &lt;Jack.&gt; </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>                                                                     &lt;Oh, hey Legosi! What’s up?&gt; </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> &lt;I’m going to my grandpa’s for the week. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Something came up&gt; </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>                                                                     &lt;What? Are you okay?&gt; </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> &lt;Yeah now&gt; </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>                                                                     &lt;What happened&gt; </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em> &lt;I’ll tell you the details when I come back, </em>
</p>
<p><em> I just needed to let </em> <em>  you know I’m okay and </em></p>
<p>
  <em> leaving&gt; </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> &lt;Oh, and I’m not in the hospital this time, </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> so&gt; </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>                                                                     &lt;You were in the hospital???&gt; </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> &lt;Oh&gt; </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> &lt;Um&gt; </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> &lt;Yeah I forgot to tell you huh, I got shot&gt; </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>                                                                     &lt;WHTA??&gt; </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> &lt;It’s&gt; </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> &lt;A long story I’ll tell you that too&gt; </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>                                                                      &lt;Legosi I swear to Rex&gt; </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> &lt;I’m sorry I really forgot to tell you&gt; </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>                                                                      &lt;You forgot to tell your best friend know you were in the </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>                                                                        hospital.&gt; </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>After calming Jack down, reassuring he was okay, and many apologies, he promised to meet with him after his first day back at work. They also worked out a time that the whole group could meet Legosi.</p>
<p>The second thing he figured was that Gosha, by all rights, should be the first one to know about this. He’d already let Gosha know he wanted to come, and of course he was okay with it without hesitation.</p>
<p>His alarm rang at him at <em> 5:00 PM </em> - time to head out to the train station for his <em> 5:30 </em>departure time. After making sure everything was packed and giving his key to Zanguan, who promised to check in his room to make sure no one stole from him, he opened the door and stepped out.</p>
<p>The train ride was an uneventful hour and thirty minutes, mostly spent by Legosi staring out the window and watching the canvas that was the sky change from a murky yellow to a bright pink, the wispy clouds reflecting the time of day as it changed. There <em> was </em> a New Zealand rabbit family across from him (who were all taller and skinnier than Jack, he noticed), but they didn’t try to talk to him - which was good. He <em> especially </em>didn’t want to talk to a white rabbit.</p>
<p>What would he say to Gosha?</p>
<p>Before he was ready, the train let him know how much time he didn’t have to prepare anything of substance by stopping.</p>
<p><em> "We have arrived at your destination,” </em> the engineer boomed over the intercom. <em> “Please take all of your belongings, go out in a sophisticated manner, and have a good day.” </em></p>
<p>After being practically carried by a crowd of smaller animals that were headed out of the train with him, Legosi pulled out his phone and opened his GPS for the hundredth time, checking again that Gosha’s house was only a five minute walk from the train system. He had an irrational fear of knocking on the wrong door, and often had anxiety thinking about it.</p>
<p>When he finally reached the house he’d lived in for the years after Leano’s death, he paused at the door, studying the flaked red paint on the wooden door of the granite-walled house. Should he knock? Should he let Gosha know he was there first?</p>
<p>The door suddenly opened, revealing a green and scaly face and white teeth.</p>
<p>“Legosi!” cried Gosha, wrapping his arms around his grandson for a moment before backing out of it. “Your <em> face!” </em>he gasped, grabbing Legosi by the head as his face distorted from its initial happiness to terror. He traced his thumb along the edge of his black eye. “What happened to you?”</p>
<p>Cool, hard, and sturdy. Legosi’s grandfather had always felt like that. Whenever Gosha had comforted him in the past, it was always in this position - his hands cradled softly around Legosi’s face, his thumb smoothly outlining his eye or eyebrow. Words of comfort usually were then followed by a great “dragon-hug,” as they used to call it.</p>
<p>Now, in this sacred grandfather-to-grandson interaction, something broke up inside of Legosi, dissolving and sifting inside of his chest and welling at his throat. Hot liquid came from the back of his eyes and began to come forward.</p>
<p><em> No, don’t do it, don’t </em> <span class="u"> <em> do </em> </span> <em> it- </em>he reprimanded himself, clenching his fist and remembering all the times he’d been told to grow up, to mature, to be strong, Haru, Louis, Gouhin, Riz, Pina’s words-</p>
<p>A strangled sob escaped Legosi, causing the entire dam to crack and begin to fall apart. He sobbed again, the ugly, distorted noise coming from his chest.</p>
<p><em>You’re weak, you’re weak, you’re </em><span class="u"><em>so</em></span><em> weak, you lied to Haru and to Louis about getting stronger, you </em><span class="u"><em>weak</em></span> <em><span class="u">liar</span>-</em></p>
<p>He wrapped his arms around Gosha again, burying his face in the reptile’s broad shoulder and letting his reservoir of tears flow, feeling his walls of strength and secrecy fall at the foot of the doorstep.</p>
<p>It was almost as if he was a cub, again, weeping in the mighty arms of Gosha, who would take all his fear and pain away in a slightly off-pitch tune.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Bombshells Without The Bomb</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This week was a rough writing week!<br/>I had written out about 1000 words when I realized, "You know what? This would be GREAT for a different chapter."<br/>Thus is the curse of the author.<br/>So I had about four days to write this new set of words, so I hope it doesn't seem rushed! I would like to clarify that I'm not the kind of author to rush a chapter because it's late for the weekly upload.<br/>Instead of a new chapter next week, I will be posting a one-shot for a friend! I saw a fan art and IMMEDIATELY knew I had to write it. But after that, you might get an early chapter, depending if I use the 1000 words I wrote for it.<br/>Thanks again! Feedback is welcome.<br/>Follow my fanfiction.net account at Cober1!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span><span class="u">Chapter 3</span>:</span>
  <span> Bombshells Without The Bomb</span>
</p><p>
  <span>~~~</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t warm. It wasn’t very comfortable. But Gosha’s old home, where Legosi had spent his latter years in town before moving to Cherryton, held a quality of peace to it that he never noticed before. Or perhaps it never had that air to when he was younger, and it came after Legosi left.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After several moments of desperately clinging to Gosha, he remembered where he was, suddenly. He shot himself back away from Gosha, whipping his head around and flinching when he saw passerbys either staring or quickly looking away from the small scene his outburst had caused.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um, I’m sorry,” Legosi apologized to Gosha, pupils dilating. “I-I didn’t think I’d </span>
  <em>
    <span>react</span>
  </em>
  <span>… that way...”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gosha only smiled, gesturing through the door with his hand. “Come on in, then,” he prompted, “You said you had a lot on your mind.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Now, Legosi sat upon the black leather couch of his grandpa’s living room, crossing his fingers as his ears drooped at the tips. Gosha had seated him there while insisting on doing something in the kitchen - Legosi didn’t catch the latter bit. </span>
  <em>
    <span>What should I say? </span>
  </em>
  <span>he wrestled with himself, uncharacteristically biting his lip. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Would he believe me if I said I’d gone back to the mask party with Yafya again?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Without warning, the door to the kitchen behind Legosi busted open, Gosha emerging from the doorway. He donned hideous looking oven mitts, which held an expensive looking tray, a small olive green teapot centering it and petite black teacups surrounding the tea vessel.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I thought this might help cool you down,” Gosha laughed lightly, setting the tray on the ornate brown coffee table in front of Legosi. “Tea always calms me when I’m upset over something.” He picked up the handle of the kettle, tipping it gingerly into Legosi’s cup first. “I hope you like chamomile. So, what’s been on your mind? I was surprised to get your messages.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Legosi picked up the cup gratefully with both hands, muttering his thanks as he sipped from the delicate cup. The taste struck Legosi as odd, making his ears perk - it was nothing like he’d ever tasted before at Cherryton or his apartment. He’d always wanted to try tea, but now that he’d tasted it, he wasn’t sure if he was missing out on much. Still, the tea’s calming effect kicked in almost immediately, the clouds in his mind clearing out a bit and giving Legosi a sense of clarity.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yafya took me to the mask party again.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gosha’s head snapped to Legosi, his pouring hand tipping more than he needed to, disrupting the perfect balance he had and accidentally overfilling his cup, the extra dripping on the table. Gosha broke out of his trance-like state and growled, setting the pot down and pouring some of the tea in the cup back into it. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Why </span>
  </em>
  <span>would you go </span>
  <em>
    <span>back </span>
  </em>
  <span>there when you got </span>
  <em>
    <span>shot </span>
  </em>
  <span>last time?” he inquired, sitting himself down across from Legosi and shakily taking a sip. He took a deep breath and let it out. “Was he trying to capture whoever that criminal was?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Legosi nodded, taking another, slightly obligatory sip. “I… asked him. If I could. Even after messing up and letting the criminal shoot me, he let me try it again.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gosha blinked, leaning back into his seat and huffing out his breath. “When did you become affiliated with Yafya in the first place?” he asked, not looking at anything in particular as he took a lazy sip from his cup.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Legosi sighed, swallowing another gulp of tea, leaning forward and setting his cup down. “I fought off some animals who were trying to sell me a drug,” he explained, lacing his fingers together again. “They were advertising it as an </span>
  <em>
    <span>energy drink, </span>
  </em>
  <span>when… I could smell the meat-intoxicating smell to it. The police awarded me a box of rice-cakes and a letter from Yafya. I met with him up in his tower-office.” He lowered his eyes, focusing on the dark color of the bitter tea in front of him. </span>
  <em>
    <span>I won’t tell him about the part where he tried to kill me yet. </span>
  </em>
  <span>“He then offered to erase my record if I find Melon - that’s the criminal, by the way,” he added, looking up to meet Gosha’s eyes. “So I can marry Haru, my… girlfriend.” He honestly wasn’t sure what they were, at this point - they barely saw each other, and when they </span>
  <em>
    <span>did </span>
  </em>
  <span>meet up, something traumatizing or stressful typically happened - Haru had made him take her to the back-alley market, and one night he thought he’d </span>
  <em>
    <span>eaten </span>
  </em>
  <span>her in his sleep. It usually wasn’t their fault, Legosi thought - but it didn’t change the fact that their relationship was effectively on pause. Nothing getting better, nothing getting worse.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gosha’s eyes widened, and his posture had leaned forward significantly. </span>
  <em>
    <span>“...Record?” </span>
  </em>
  <span>he said, a slight hiss edging the end of his question.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Legosi gaped, closing his jaw eventually with a </span>
  <em>
    <span>click</span>
  </em>
  <span>. “Uh-uh… yeah.” His eyes darted around the room momentarily, swallowing a lump in his throat. “I ate my red deer friend’s leg becau-“</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“What?” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Gosha interjected, setting his small cup down, minding its frailness and not shattering it. “You’ve </span>
  <em>
    <span>eaten meat?</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait, let me finish, at least, grandpa!” Legosi shouted before Gosha could continue, silencing the older animal. He downed the last of the tea in one gulp and rubbed his temples. “Let me start from the beginning…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Legosi recapped the entirety of last year, starting from Tem’s murder, when he first met Haru and how he almost ate her, the second day of the </span>
  <em>
    <span>Adler</span>
  </em>
  <span> performance where he fought Bill, the Shishigumi and saving Haru when the kidnapped her, Rokume the serpent tasking Legosi with finding Tem’s killer, training with Gouhin to not desire meat (and also his work with Gouhin and his training to fight Riz), </span>
  <em>
    <span>befriending </span>
  </em>
  <span>the Shishigumi after Louis joined, how he had to eat Louis’ leg when Riz had nearly beaten Legosi to death, Pina calling the police, and his life after dropping school, including the Zaguan and the time he’d talked his way about of being eaten alive by a whale. He didn’t include the part with Miyagi - it wasn’t quite the time for him to hear that yet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And now I ran into... something else. Which is why I’m here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gosha listened to Legosi in full, face slowly distorting into an unexplainable mixture of confusion, worry and horror. When he finished, Gosha took the sleeve of his navy blue polo shirt and wiped his mouth, which had begun excreting his komodo dragon poison in the beginning of Legosi’s spiel. “You’ve…” He stood up and turned, wiping his mouth again and letting out a long breath. “You’re kidding me, right? How have you skirted the edge of death for so long?” he lamented. Gosha’s eyes met Legosi’s. “...You really </span>
  <em>
    <span>have </span>
  </em>
  <span>gone thug, haven’t you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wha- no!” Legosi defended, leaping out his own seat and spreading his arms out. “I really wish that none of this had to happen, but it turned out that way, and I couldn’t just </span>
  <em>
    <span>sit </span>
  </em>
  <span>there and watch everything happen.” He put his arms down and sighed, casting his vision down. “I did that long enough when my mom locked herself away,” he added more delicately. “And when…” he swallowed again, shutting his eyes as more emotion balled itself within Legosi and threatened to ignite. “When he left me with you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gosha’s facial features slackened, and he took his hand away from his mouth. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He let out a slow breath, expelling the air as if it had been trapped in his lungs; he shook his head and stepped toward Legosi, wrapping his arms around the wolf. “You’re still young,” he told him, closing his own eyes. “You have your entire life ahead of you to take action about things and injustices you see.” He pulled away, smiling lightly. “I’m just a concerned grandpa, Legosi. Could you do me a favor and not put yourself through so much worry? If only for me, if not yourself. Let me be selfish here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Legosi’s mouth gaped slightly at the sudden embrace, and when Gosha pulled back, he chuckled sheepishly. “I’ll try,” Legosi promised, a crooked grin creeping up his muzzle. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gosha took his hands off the younger wolf’s shoulders, reaching down to pick up the tray. “I’ll put this up,” he said, walking through the kitchen door and to the living room when he put the tray down. “So what </span>
  <em>
    <span>did </span>
  </em>
  <span>you want to talk about, anyway? We got sidetracked when you mentioned your... record.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Legosi didn’t respond at first, staring at Gosha stupidly, mouth slightly ajar at the question. </span>
  <em>
    <span>I’m not ready for this. He’s not ready for this. Oh, why did I </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>come</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span> here, he’s just going to get more worried when I promised </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span> to! You weak liar.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh-I-um,” he stuttered, nose pointing to the ground and ears drooping again as he balled his fists. “I needed to come here to avoid any other conflict and so my wounds could heal. It-it was about the mask party. He…” He shut his eyes, steadying himself and clearing his mind and heart of any emotion that threatened to overpower his speech. Gosha needed to at least hear Legosi be calm right now.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He was at the mask party. The bartender. I guess he got fired from his acting and modeling career for being a carnivore and resorted to the back-alley market’s options to make his living.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gosha blinked and tilted his head, momentarily confused. The realization came on slowly, the lizard’s face once again expanding into something along horror as he inclined his neck towards his grandson.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“No…”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“I jeopardized the mission by letting my anger rise when I put two and two together,” Legosi continued, ears flattening against his skull and tail tucking under his legs. He refused to open his eyes, to see Gosha’s face, but somehow knowing what it looked like anyway. “I hit him in the face, and then we fought - </span>
  <em>
    <span>right there </span>
  </em>
  <span>in the middle of the floor. We would have kept going if Yafya didn’t break it up.” Legosi took a wavering breath, letting it out shakily. “And now Yafya isn’t going to give me another chance at my record.” He opened his eyes, downcast at the carpet floor. “I’m… a little taller than him, now, heh.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Legosi continued looking down, still unable to meet Gosha’s eyes after dropping such a bombshell. A cool sensation grazed across Legosi’s skin, making him look up - Gosha’s hand was lightly caressing his hurt eye. What concerned Legosi, however, wasn’t that he was touching him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gosha’s eyes had widened more than he thought possible. His pupils were smaller than normal, as if they were searing through anything its field of vision reached. His jaw was set in a firm line, and his nostrils flared.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He did this to you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Legosi blinked, eyes slowly looking at anything besides Gosha’s face. This new side of his grandfather perplexed Legosi - he’d seen his typical, doting grandpa side and the side where he was defending Legosi. This third side left Legosi fearful - even though he logically knew nothing was going to happen to him, and Gosha’s seething anger wasn’t directed at him, but… being in the presence of it was terrifying, and strikingly resembled looking into his own reflection.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Y-yes. But - don’t worry!” he assured, lifting his hands to face level, “I had other wounds, but those healed fast, so this should go away in no time! Uh-uh, and I did a pretty good number on him too.” When he didn’t get an immediate response, he broke out in a sweat. “What? I-I’m fine now- </span>
  <em>
    <span>hurp!”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Gosha had enveloped Legosi into another hug, though this time, it didn’t feel as relaxed, but rather as if he was being protected from an invisible enemy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Legosi.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gosha paused before he replied. “I’m sorry I keep hugging you. But, this... I… I can’t believe you’re already this strong.” His tone morphed from its hard, frosty edge to a milder, meeker muse. “Yesterday, you were my six year old grandson, who was perfectly content with hugging my hand because it made you happy. And…” Legosi felt something wet drop on his neck. “Now you’re an adult with a job, a place to live, with so many things you want to </span>
  <em>
    <span>do</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” He pulled back, surprising Legosi with the poison slowly dripping like molasses out of his eye. “It really makes a grandpa proud, you know.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Legosi’s stomach turned at this sudden outbreak. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Another side? </span>
  </em>
  <span>Who was his grandpa, really? Legosi had found a much more four-dimensional polygon of an animal in the past two hours than he’d ever had before. Even so, Legosi smiled, tail wagging slowly at the surprisingly fulfilling praise.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who said your hand doesn’t make me happy anymore?” </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. The Portrait and the Cake</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey guys!<br/>I took the liberty to come a little earlier than expected and post this chapter real quick! I've been sneaking in time to write, so I now have this chapter to give you. The official date I start actively writing again is August 16th - six days away! I've managed to write this chapter and chapter five, as well, so I'm actually ahead of schedule with the short time I've been given to write.<br/>Please note - on the 16th, I will be moving to college. College will likely take up a lot of my time, so please don't expect a consistent schedule. All I can guarantee is that I will do my utmost to write every single day. I love this story, and I very much appreciate the support I've received, and I am not the type to just leave people hanging when they support my work.<br/>Without further ado!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Chapter 4: The Portrait and the Cake</p><p> </p><p>~~~</p><p> </p><p>
  <b> <em>One year ago, midterms at Cherryton Boarding School</em> </b>
</p><p> </p><p>“Legosi?”</p><p>Jack closed the door to room 701 behind him quietly and tiptoed to his bed - the lights were off, and Legosi’s lanky form was visible on his bed in the bluish hue of the semi-dark room, the sun reflecting the color through the blue curtains.</p><p>“It’s hardly six in the evening, dude,” he giggled lightly and half to himself, politely climbing the plain ladder to his own bed above Legosi’s. <em> That math test was a chore, even for me </em> , he remembered. <em> He’s probably tired. </em></p><p>Still, it struck the golden labrador as odd - Collot and Voss were usually the ones who napped after tests, and Legosi had taken plenty of hard tests before. In fact, there were multiple tests that had already passed this week, and he hadn’t passed out like this after the fact. Jack briefly considered that he was resting for his next test, but - no, that couldn’t be it. He loved his anthropology class and would likely pass with flying colors without even sleeping tonight.</p><p>“...You okay, dude?” he asked, bending over the side of the bed and peering at Legosi, eyes widening a little when he saw Legosi’s eyes were half open. “Hey - Legosi.”</p><p>The gray wolf didn’t respond at first, his blank stare not seeming to register the animal before him. He suddenly blinked, pupils rounding marginally and breath exhaling as if it were a sigh. “Oh… hey, Jack,” he replied, pulling himself up and rubbing his head, mattress creaking quietly. “What time is it…?”</p><p>“Just past six,” Jack answered promptly, his ears giving themselves to gravity and dropping out of their normal position on his head. “Why are you sleeping? Or, whatever you were doing.”</p><p>Legosi’s brow furrowed, and he leaned his elbows on his knees, fingers interlocking. “Dunno,” he mumbled, eyes beginning to grow misty. “Guess I’m tired from math…”</p><p>Jack frowned, flipping himself back from his dangling position and climbing down from his bed. “You’re a horrible liar, you know.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“C’mon, man, we’ve known each other for how long? You always say when there’s something wrong with me that I frown. Well, when there’s something wrong with <em> you </em>, your ears droop and you start slurring your words.” Jack stood in front of Legosi now, arms folded on his chest and his weight leaning on one foot. “What’s the matter?”</p><p>Legosi blinked slowly, putting his hand to his head to test Jack’s theory. He frowned deeper when he confirmed for himself what Jack told him.</p><p>“Well? There’s no one here except us, by the way,” he added when Legosi scanned the room.</p><p>Legosi took a long breath, slowly releasing it over a long sigh. For a moment he sat there unresponsively. Jack had learned by now that he wasn’t ignoring the question, and this usually meant he needed time to construct his response.</p><p>“...<em>H</em><em>im </em>.”</p><p>“...What?” Jack inquired, head tilting to the side curiously as his hands went down from his stance. “Who…?”</p><p>“Him. My f-f-” Legosi’s eyes shut, fingers gripping each other more tightly. “F-fa…” He swallowed thickly, hanging his head below his clasped fingers. “You know. My mom’s…” He stopped himself when his voice cracked, clearing his throat awkwardly. “You know.”</p><p>Jack narrowed his eyes, head tilting the other way. “<em> ‘Fa?’ </em> Fa, fa… family?” he guessed, shifting his weight to his other leg. “Your mom’s famil- <em> oh, </em> ” he realized epiphanically, looking up and blinking. He looked back to Legosi’s hunched over form, heart squeezing in his chest empathetically. <em> Maybe I shouldn’t have been so aggressive about it, </em> he reprimanded himself curtly. <em> I thought it was about that rabbit girl. </em> “Why are you thinking about <em> him </em>?” he asked gently, kneeling down on the ground with one knee, sitting on his foot, and looking up to his friend. His facial features scrunched in concern, eyes rounding some.</p><p>Another moment passed, Legosi completely still, the only sound being the box fan Voss had insisted on buying humming in the background. He put his chin on his hands. “I’ll think about him from time to time,” he finally said, eyes opening and revealing a different-than-typical-Legosi introspect that spiked alarm within Jack. “And my mom, and Gosha, and that whole situation. How… <em> he </em>finally put his hand through the hole my mom made in the door of the other room and screamed when he found her body hanging.” His eyes closed again, and Jack visibly saw him shudder. “How grandpa screamed.”</p><p>Another moment of silence. Jack bit his lip, words eluding him. Somehow he knew that words wouldn’t help, anyway, and Legosi likely needed uninterrupted thought.</p><p>“I never told you how he left, huh?”</p><p>Jack blinked, ears perking at the question. “U-uh, no, but, you don’t have to tell me if you aren’t comfortable-”</p><p>“No, it’s okay,” Legosi assured, making eye contact with Jack and smiling wistfully. “You deserve to know.” His smile faded. “Unless-unless you don’t… <em> want </em>to hear it, then-”</p><p>“Oh! - no, no, go on. I’m here,” Jack amended quickly, shaking the surprise out of his head, ears flopping about and clapping against his skull. “I’m here.”</p><p>Legosi laughed shortly through his nose, closing his eyes again. After another moment, he let out a deep breath, eyes opening as the wolf seemed to finally collect his thoughts.</p><p>“That week was chaos,” he started, eyes misting over reminiscently. “Grandpa had to be the one to tell me what happened; <em> he </em>had locked himself in where he and my mom used to sleep before she went into the other room.” He paused briefly, and he closed his eyes in what seemed to be effort. Movement above Legosi’s head caught Jack’s eye.</p><p>“Hey,” he snapped lightly at Legosi, putting his hand on the wolf’s knee. “Stop that. You can let your ears droop in front of me. Don’t try to hide from me anymore. Please.”</p><p>The gray wolf released a breath, his attempt at faking a neutral impression failing miserably as his ears flattened again. Something in Legosi’s eyes flashed, and he slowly put his head in his hands. “I’m - <em> give me a second… </em>”</p><p>Jack remained silent, hanging his head down and closing his eyes. He and Legosi had had serious talks before: ever since they met in school, the two had always been side by side, naturally gaining a mutual bond to where they were comfortable discussing sensitive topics about themselves, or just about everything, really. But Jack had never seen Legosi have such a hard time explaining himself after the first one or two serious conversations they had. </p><p>The golden lab abruptly snapped out of his thoughts when he felt a disturbance in the ostinatto of the room’s sound, eyes widening marginally when he heard suppressed wheeze-sobs from the wolf, getting off his knees when he saw his torso shiver.</p><p>“...Legosi?” he tried, looking around and setting himself next to Legosi, shifting his feet on the floor. He looked down awkwardly. “Hey, man - I - this is probably really hard to talk about, so I completely understand if you can’t talk about it right now,” he assured, looking at Legosi out of the corner of his eye. “I know I said that you shouldn’t hide from me, but you don’t have to force yourself to open up if you can’t. That’s not healthy, either.”</p><p>Legosi let out another wheeze, squeezing his face with his hands and growling. “<em> No </em> , Jack, it’s…” He released his hands from his face, looking up and closing his eyes. “I - he told me he didn’t <em> want </em> me anymore.” He shivered again, a single drop of liquid rolling from his eye. “After she died, he’d locked himself in his room for a <em> week, </em> and I thought he was going to disappear like Mom, and h-Gosha told me to not bother him yet, because he was grieving, and - I went to his door when Gosha had gone for an errand.” He opened his eyes, another sob escaping his throat. “H-he told me to get lost, and to go away and never come back, because he was <em> done raising me </em> and he didn’t want me, and that -” he paused to swallow his accumulated saliva - “It wasn’t ‘worth being there anymore if Leano wasn’t there.’ Then he pushed me back and slammed the door and told me to never talk to him.” He drew in a heavy breath, letting it out as more tears poured from his black-colored eyes. “I told Gosha what he’d said, and I remember a lot of yelling. Then he left with his things one night, and I never saw him again.” He hid his face from Jack with his large hand, sobs wracking his body.</p><p>Jack listened, turning his head more fully. As he spoke, his ears perked and his jaw went slack in horror, attempting to extend his hand towards his friend after he stopped speaking. “Legosi-"</p><p>“And I can’t help but wonder,” Legosi continued, obliviously deaf to Jack. “If I’d not talked to him, would he have... <em> cooled down </em> enough to stay? Or if I’d said something else other than asking if he was okay? What if I didn’t spend enough time with him, so he didn’t know how much I <em> needed </em> him? I tried, but he was doing his job a lot… maybe I shouldn’t have told Gosha.” He buried his head in his hands, letting out a slow breath. “This sounds really immature,” he observed to himself. “And - what about my <em> mother? </em> ” Legosi suddenly locked eyes with Jack for the first time; Jack’s legs suddenly felt numbed at the anguish spilling from Legosi’s eyes, the pitiful, primal desperation. “What if I’d talked to her more through that hole in the other room? Would she not have killed herself?” The gray wolf shuddered, staring down into nothingness and cradling his knees to his chest. He took a breath and let it out shakily. “The night she killed herself, she came to my bed and hugged me for a while. She thought I was asleep. I didn’t want to say anything because I thought she’d get upset. But… if I had said… <em> something </em>…” He laid his head in between his knees, arms slack and at his sides. “Maybe I could have changed everything.”</p><p>Jack’s hand remained paralyzed in the air, blinking heavily as his neck fur rose. <em> Oh, God, Legosi. </em> He felt his heart wrench and tear inside of his chest. <em> What do I say to </em> <em> that </em> <em> ? </em> This was a deeper, far more deeply rooted beast that Jack had never had experience with before; this was something that made any of Jack’s confidence in his ability to help Legosi shrivel into a meaningless husk.  What could Jack possibly do to try to fix <em> this? </em> It certainly didn’t have a simple, on the nose answer to other topics such as trouble with that rabbit girl, or that time Legosi had asked him how he seemed to make friends so easily when he could barely keep a conversation with the other Room 701 students. This was different, intangible but present. It was something Jack couldn’t see, but <em> feel </em> - the beast loomed over Legosi, slowly but steadily drawing the potential, sanity and life from him. <em> This is terrifying, </em> he thought disdainfully. How long had he held this in? He typically blurted out his insecurities whenever they had conversations like these, but never this long or breathtaking of a response. How much did he <em> really </em>know Legosi after all these years?</p><p>“Legosi?” he tried weakly, voice cracking. When he didn’t respond, he cleared his throat and continued moving his hand, grabbing hold of Legosi’s shoulder. “Legosi, look at me. <em> Legosi. </em>” His head snapped up the third time, eyes wide and vulnerable, almost as if he was once again twelve and attending Leano’s funeral. The pain in his eyes reminded him of when Legosi first told him about his reptilian heritage. Any words that ran through Jack’s mind disappeared upon eye contact, and suddenly he found himself awkwardly wrapping his arms around Legosi’s back and legs, which were still next to his chest. “Come here.”</p><p>Legosi, bewildered, obeyed, putting his legs down and leaning into Jack’s embrace, sniffling in confusion. “J-Jack?”</p><p>“Legosi, listen to me,” Jack said, looking past Legosi’s shoulder. <em> Anything you say will go right through his heart right now, Jack. Choose your words wisely. </em> “When your mother died, you were twelve. You were still trying to find your place at school, and you liked bugs. You were never one to talk much, but that didn’t bother you, because you and the bugs were nice to each other. You were Legosi, the quiet, bug-loving wolf with a kind heart. That was your existence. There was <em> nothing </em> you could have done to influence your mother’s death. That was completely her choice, not yours. In fact,” he added gently, squeezing a little tighter when he felt Legosi’s quiet sobs shake Jack’s entire body. “She hugged you, didn’t she? The night she took her life. If there was anything you could have possibly said back then, you had already said it by being Legosi, the quiet, bug-loving and kind wolf. There was nothing else <em> to </em> say - you’d said everything you could by being her son.” He took a deep breath, shutting his eyes in an attempt to gather his thoughts. “In fact, <em> being </em>her son should have been enough reason to stay alive.”</p><p>Jack felt Legosi’s arms move from their stiffened position to touch Jack’s back. It was a funny feeling - Legosi’s arms were still stiff, even in this position. Sometimes Jack forgot Legosi likely hadn’t had much physical contact beyond accidental bumps in the hallway since he left his grandfather’s house. Legosi’s touch was light, as if he was afraid he’d break Jack. The golden lab almost laughed at his over-polite demeanor - even while he was broken, he still managed to think about his wolfish strength and accommodate accordingly, even if he did so too often and too much. Jack felt warm tears flood their way to his eye sockets, but he shut the floodways quickly. <em> He needs me right now. You can think about that later. </em></p><p>“As for your da- <em>h-him,</em>” he recovered, “There also... wasn’t anything you could have done about that. His decisions are <em>his, </em>and his only. There wasn’t any way ya coulda known he was gonna react like he did.” Jack reached into nothingness for words, eyes darting back and forth. “Or leave. Even if you <em>could </em>have averted any of that, he’d already left and made that decision. Heck, he missed out more than you did, you’re a great son. You are <em>not </em>at any fault here.” Jack sighed heavily, resting his chin on top of Legosi’s shoulder.</p><p>“And that’s that.”</p><p>Several silent moments passed, Jack acutely aware of the feeling of Legosi’s heart thudding against his chest the wolf sobbed surppressently; he also noticed when the pulse of it slowed down when Legosi’s breathing began to even out.</p><p>“Jack?”</p><p>“Yeah?”</p><p>“...Am I overreacting about this? When there are so many others who have or had it worse than I do?”</p><p>Jack pulled himself back, snorting upon their separation. “If <em>that</em> was the case, I’d be the biggest drama king of them all,” he joked, getting off the bed and clicking on the light. “Your feelings and emotions aren’t invalid even if your situation might not be as bad as others. You’ve had all that junk holed up inside of you for probably a long time. If you were overreacting…” Jack tilted back his head after a moment, chuckling. “Well, I <em> had </em>something to put after that, but I lost it. Short answer: no.” He opened the door of the dorm room. “Let’s get something to eat, yeah? After you splash some water on your face, though - your eyes are still puffy.”</p><p>Legosi stood up slowly, stretching his arms and heading towards the bathroom. “Uh - Jack?”</p><p>“Yes, Legosi?”</p><p>The light of the sun through the door caught Legosi’s eyes. Jack blinked when he made eye contact - usually Legosi always kept a neutral, contented spirit around everyone wherever he went. But now, Jack sensed relief, as if the boulder he’d been carrying had been lightened - he knew too well that Legosi still had emotional baggage he hadn’t addressed personally yet, and Jack knew that conversation didn’t fix all his problems. But it seemed he’d alleviated at least some of the blame he’d placed on himself. <em> I hope he’s happy right now. He needs a break from being so depressed all the time. </em>The wolf in front of him smiled - genuinely smiled. Such a great smile, Jack couldn't help but notice. He’d be great with the ladies if he knew how to smile more often.</p><p>“Thank you.”</p><p> </p><p>~~~</p><p> </p><p>
  <b> <em>Present, Gosha’s household</em> </b>
</p><p> </p><p>“No, no, no - <em> hey!” </em>Gosha snapped, rushing over and pulling the teapot off of the gas stove and letting out a breath. “You almost over-boiled the tea.”</p><p>Legosi growled irately, turning off the flame. “You said five minutes, though,” he said, gesturing to the boxes of leaves set on the granite counter before him.</p><p>“For <em> herbal </em> tea, yes - but for <em> black </em>tea, it’s four minutes,” he corrected, pointing at two identical teabags. “That one on the left is leaves for black tea, and the other one is for herbal tea.”</p><p>Legosi’s mouth gaped slightly, blinking at the instructions. <em> Is this what Haru did every day with her garden? How did she keep track of all those plants? </em>“Uh… what’s the difference, again?”</p><p>Gosha sighed, as if he’d said this countless times to a young animal. “Black tea smells more pungent than herbal tea, which has a more slight scent,” he explained again. “You with your wolf nose should have figured out the difference by now, no?”</p><p>Legosi sighed and nodded, knowing that he was right. Tea leaves, for some reason, didn’t register just right in Legosi’s scent vault - perhaps it was because they were plants, and not animals. “Should I make another kettle, then?” Legosi offered, right ear twitching.</p><p>Gosha hummed, perching his finger on his lip. “...No, I don’t think so - you’ll learn tea fast enough. I say we start baking!”</p><p>“B-baking?”</p><p>Before Legosi could follow up, Gosha had already brought out several ingredients: eggs, flour, milk, sugar, bowls. “Since you’re here, I want to make a cake with you.”</p><p>Legosi’s mouth moved silently for a moment, eventually clicking shut. “I-I <em> suppose, </em>I could learn…”</p><p>Gosha clapped his hand, clearly delighted. “Great!” he applauded. “So… the first thing you need to know about baking a cake…”</p><p>Gosha’s words faded into the distance, Haru appearing in Legosi’s mind. <em> I wonder how she’s doing. Did she ever know how to make tea? I bet she did - she took care of plants all day. </em> His lips quirked upward a little and he blinked fondly. <em> She’d probably be telling me how dumb I’m being right now, and then show me how to make tea and drill me until I knew it by memory. </em></p><p>“The first step is cracking the eggs,” Gosha interrupted Legosi’s thoughts cheerily, breaking open the carton to reveal shiny white eggs. “Your hands are much too big to try to crack them with two hands, so I’m going to just show you the one handed method.” He delicately grabbed two eggs out of the box and cracked them on either side of the glass bowl in front of him, peeling apart the eggshells with his palms as he dropped the yolk and whites in the bowl. “It’s more of a ‘show you’ skill than a ‘tell you’ one. You try,” he encouraged, pulling out two more eggs and handing them to Legosi, who took them gently, staring at them wide-eyed. He turned to his own glass bowl in front of him and attempted to mimic his grandfather’s motions, resulting in the egg completely splitting in half, the contents of each egg spilling on the sides of the bowl. “Uh…”</p><p>“Oh, that’s quite alright - in fact, I should have taught you to break with two hands anyway, I forgot you have long fingers,” Gosha assured, grabbing another egg and miming the movement over his bowl. “Just take your fingers and do it more lightly, then separate the shells and put the yolk in.”</p><p>Legosi nodded, delicately taking another egg and copying the komodo dragon’s movements again, this time cracking the egg and dropping the insides in perfectly. A smile began to grow on Legosi’s face, but it dropped again when part of the shell fell out of his hand and into the bowl.</p><p>Gosha snorted, picking up the shell and throwing it out. “You got it,” he chuckled lightheartedly, offering an assuring smile. “Now just do the other one.”</p><p>After he’d finished with that, they moved on to the other steps: pouring the flour in, stirring it until well stirred, putting the sugar in. Legosi’s mind was mainly focused on the eggs - his love for egg sandwich Wednesdays at Cherryton hadn’t departed from his personality when he dropped school. <em> I wonder </em> <em> how </em> <em> they make those sandwiches… and most importantly, whose eggs they were. </em></p><p>Eventually his mind wandered off to a different topic, one that Legosi wasn’t sure he <em> wanted </em> to think about: <em> him. </em></p><p>Or, not specifically <em>him, </em>but what <em>he </em>was supposed to be. Times like these with Gosha were really nice: sometimes they were still, quiet moments, and other times they were full of fun where Legosi actually began to enjoy himself for once, But… Legosi couldn’t put his finger on it. He put a pinch of sugar in the bowl, choosing to mix more as he thought. It was almost as if… yes, that was it - it was a family picture in a frame, and Miyagi had been torn out. As much as he wanted to place him in Miyagi’s place, Gosha was always a <em>grandfather </em>to Legosi. He couldn’t just cut out Gosha from his spot of the family picture and put him where his own father was supposed to be. Legosi remembered vaguely trying to do that with the drama club coordinator at Cherryton, but again, he had been his teacher, and nothing else - the bird was always professional with every student he’d taught. He never really had a connection with any other males older than him, unless he counted Gouhin, but he decided not to go through that alleyway of thought. Miyagi had left a wide, gaping hole in the canvas of his life that Legosi had let become infected as the years drug on.</p><p>
  <em> “...osi.” </em>
</p><p>He was thankful Jack had been there that time at Cherryton to sanitize that wound, when he’d completely lost his mind about how he’d left and how Leano had killed herself. <em> Frankly, I’m not sure where I’d be now if he hadn’t come in the room. Would I have let it consume me…? </em></p><p>“Legosi.”</p><p>The wolf didn’t notice he’d stopped stirring, and when he came to his senses, he immediately bowed shortly. “<em> Yurushite, </em>grandpa,” he apologized, mixing the cake together for a couple spins and bending himself in half to stick it in the oven. “I spaced out again, didn’t I?”</p><p>Gosha didn’t respond immediately, punching in the numbers on the oven and pressing the big START button<em>.</em> “You remind me a lot of your grandmother, you know,” he stated, smiling wistfully.</p><p>Legosi froze, making eye contact with his grandfather. Gosha had never talked about his lover before - the only thing he knew from his mother was that his grandmother had passed before he was born. He was reminded of the portrait again, realizing that he wasn’t entirely sure what a grandma was supposed to be, either. The word sounded foreign in his mind, as if he was learning another word he’d never use again outside of Cherryton. “Grand...ma?” he asked slowly, trying the word out loud.</p><p>Gosha nodded, taking his pink ‘<em> kiss the cook’ </em> apron off and sliding his mismatched potholder off his scaled hand. “She would always space out a lot like you,” he elaborated, eyes misting over nostalgically. “The first date we went on, she spaced out for a solid minute, and I thought she’d eaten something she was allergic to. The first day we <em> met, </em> even. Or, hold on - she didn’t ‘space out’ as much as she seemed a bit air-headed about the situation she had just escaped. Let’s sit,” he added quietly, gesturing to the round marble dining table Legosi remembered eating at many times when he was young. They sat down at opposite ends of the table, both animals lacing their fingers subconsciously. “I was walking the streets one night when I came along a thug trying to kill her for her pelt. After I… <em> neutralized </em> him, she seemed to be completely nonchalant about the whole thing.” The older lizard laughed lightly, looking up at Legosi. “Much like how you talked about your own path of danger with a grain of salt.”</p><p>Legosi frowned and looked away for a second - was that how he came across to other animals he cherished in his life? <em> Maybe I should act like I care about my life a little more, </em> he noted. <em> No wonder Haru gets mad at me all the time. </em>He quickly looked back up before Gosha noticed. “...What was grandma’s name?” he asked gently, mindful to not interrupt Gosha’s obvious memory-mood too abruptly. “I never knew her name.”</p><p>Gosha squinted at Legosi, eyes still retrospective as he reached for his glasses, muttering about how he forgot he needed them as he placed them on.</p><p>“Your grandmother’s name was Toki.”</p><p>~~~</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! </em>
</p><p>“Oh, looks like it’s ready - Legosi, pull out the cake and I’ll grab my frosting from the fridge,” Gosha said after the several minutes of silence before the oven’s announcement. Legosi stood and slipped the potholder on as he walked to the oven, grabbing both cakes individually.</p><p>“Do you remember which one’s yours?” Gosha asked, seemingly recovered from his brief melancholy.</p><p>“The bottom one, you said I should put it there,” Legosi reminded, taking the glove off. “Something about that I had more egg in mine…”</p><p>“Oh, that’s right,” Gosha remembered, taking the lid off a white jar and sticking a knife in it. “You got some egg in there when you tried to crack it the first time, I noticed, so yours’d need to be closer to the bottom so it heated faster.” He spread the icing across both cakes professionally, muscle memory apparent as he swiftly finished the job. “Made it myself - and since I know you’re immune to my poison, I added it to the mix for the flavor. I have a poison mix and a non-poison mix,” he added, chuckling sheepishly. “Anyway-“ he took another, longer knife and quickly cut two slices out of each cake, flipping them perfectly onto the plates he had set out before they started. “Let’s try them!”</p><p>Legosi took one of the plates, wide-eyed at Gosha’s expertise, briefly wondering just how long he’d been living alone. “I-I’ll try yours, and you try mine?” he suggested.</p><p>Gosha agreed jovially, and they sat at the table, each biting into their respective slices.</p><p>A moment passed, both chewing in silence. Gosha cleared his throat after a moment. “Not bad for a first cake,” he complimented, picking up the loaf and biting into it again. “It’s a little on the chewy side, but I’d suspect it’s because of the extra egg content.”</p><p>Legosi swallowed, the marmalade-poison mixing well with the vanilla batter the pair had both used. “I like yours,” he hummed, poking his finger in the frosting. “The frosting is a little sweet for my taste, but it’s nice to have something sweet for once.”</p><p>Gosha grinned, pushing his plate towards Legosi. “You try yours now,” he told him, reaching and grabbing Legosi’s plate. “I want to see how mine turned out.”</p><p>Legosi blinked at the sudden interruption, but didn’t complain, instead picking up his own cake and biting into it with his front teeth. Gosha was right: his cake <em> was </em>chewy, and tasted particularly of egg. Maybe he accidentally dropped more of the egg than he thought he did at first, when he tried the two-handed egg cracking technique.</p><p>Still, besides that - it was missing something. Legosi had followed Gosha’s steps, and Gosha even came to approve what he was doing, yet something was… <em> off. </em>It wasn’t exactly a complete cake, even though it was sitting right there in front of him. It had a quality to it that Gosha’s didn’t, though - which meant that his cake wasn’t entirely complete, either.</p><p>Something was missing. Legosi thought again of the portrait of his life, and the holes that had been left in it even before he was born. <em> Much like how something went wrong with this cake before it was made, </em>Legosi couldn’t help but think introspectively. There, decent, yet incomplete.</p><p>In the end, they both agreed Gosha’s cake was better, due to the chewiness of Legosi’s and the superior flavor of Gosha’s, but they both traded one slice so they could have both cakes. They finished happily, Gosha rambling on about his work and day-to-day life, like a typical grandpa might.</p><p>And just for that part of the day, Legosi forgot the worries of the outside world and forgot about his wounds, of Haru and Jack and Miyagi, Melon and Yafya, what had happened at the mask party less than a week ago. Legosi felt burdenless, the positivity of his grandfather’s presence stirring genuine happiness; it didn’t really matter what the food tasted like, really. The day ended like a normal day might, which ironically was atypical for the gray wolf - Gosha showed him to his room and told him the rules of showering at his house, when they were going to wake up the next morning (he’d be helping his grandpa run errands), etcetera.</p><p>Legosi couldn’t help but notice: for that day, it was almost as if both the portrait and the cake were complete.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. The Missing Piece</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello!</p><p>I had this chapter at 5k, and then I edited it.</p><p>And now I have 6.3k words.</p><p>I don't know what happened, it just... you know? I had a hard time editing it until I was just like "I AM GETTING THIS DONE OR ALL BE DARNED"</p><p>So I hope you enjoy! Leave a comment for what you'd like to see next!</p><p>Also! I won’t be posting a chapter next week. I’m doing a Discord server fic challenge, and I’ll post that here.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>Chapter 5: The Missing Piece</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>~~~</b>
</p><p> </p><p>It wasn’t complete.</p><p>The inflated feeling of joy didn’t last long after they had made their cakes that night. The gray wolf fumbled for the device in his pocket hundredth time, frowning at the large <em> 5:22 AM </em>that dutifully reported on his screen when he pulled it out. Thirty minutes had passed since Gosha had clicked on his bedroom light and told him they were going to run errands earlier than expected since he had woken up early.</p><p>At least he wasn’t driving - Gosha had been content with doing that: apparently, according to him, komodo dragons typically had unusual sleep schedules, and once they woke up, they were up for the day and had 48 hours before they began to feel exhausted. This explained Legosi’s endurance to normal wear-and-tear of day-to-day activities, and his tendency to have an irregular pattern of sleep; regretfully, both his biological parents were wolves and needed the sleep. <em> And of course, wolves are normally nocturnal, and when you add that to my reptilian blood and that the rest of the world functions in the day…  </em></p><p>Legosi suspected his off-put attitude was due to the fact that he wasn’t a morning animal, literally and figuratively. He had a special aversion to waking up early, even when the komodo dragon in him made him feel awake. It could also be that Legosi stayed up longer than he should have, thinking they were going to go at 8:00 AM like Gosha had told him the night before. <em> No more 2 AM thoughts, </em> he duly noted. <em> At least, not when I’m with grandpa. </em></p><p>“My friend is a nocturnal panamanian monkey, and he usually sleeps at six in the morning,” Gosha rambled, most of his words by then failing to meet Legosi’s ears. “And I’ve been helping him around the yard since he lost his legs in a predation incident. So that’s where we’re going. He’s a funny little guy,” he added cheerily, moving his hand from the wheel to adjust the mirror up top. “This animal <em> tailgating me </em> is really starting to irritate me,” he growled, rolling down the window and sticking his head out to look at the car behind them.</p><p>Legosi held his breath when he mentioned predation, stomach churning unpleasantly when Gosha mentioned his friend’s legs. He thought of Louis, and how he had <em> eaten his thigh </em> to fight Riz. It would appear in his dreams from time to time, every time as dark and desperate as it had played out when it happened - his dizziness next to Louis when he tried to stand, the pain everywhere from Riz’s blows. <em> I want you to eat my leg, Legosi. </em> All that training with Gouhin, every sleepless night and chasing meat-drunk animals while passing his classes in the day, mastering his senses and minimizing his desire for meat to <em> nothing, </em> digging <em> every individual grave </em> for all the lives that had been taken for the Back Alley Market’s purpose. Everything had led to nothing - in the end, he was a carnivore, and meat was the only way to win.</p><p>He’d even visited and decorated the graves in the cold and starless nights, spoke to them and vowed to never set his teeth on meat.</p><p>“Stupid fleabag,” Gosha hissed as he snapped his head back in the vehicle and rolled up the window of the old truck. “Felines are all the same when it comes to their temper, especially scarred and tattooed ones like him.”</p><p>Legosi snapped out of his thoughts, blinking and nodding at Gosha’s remark thoughtfully. “I have a tiger friend at school,” he slurred, clearing his throat. “<em> Had, </em>before I dropped out. We fought once on the stage, like I told you, but we’re on good terms now.” He huffed out of his nose in amusement. “He’s crude, though,” he added. Likes ‘striped chicks’ a lot.”</p><p>Gosha snorted, rolling his eyes. “That, too - you won’t find one cat these days who haven’t been active in <em> that </em> area of life.” He suddenly looked to Legosi, eyes widening marginally. “Don’t take me for a specist, though - I work with pleasant felines all the time. That’s just… their culture, I suppose.” He looked back to the road, facial features drooping despite his assuring tone. “Reptiles avoid conflict when they can, so we don’t usually mix well with aggressive felines.”</p><p>That explained why Legosi almost always pretended to lose fights when he was in school.</p><p>“Anyway,” Gosha changed topics, “I’m glad you woke up this early to help me. It might take us half the time I’d normally spend there.”</p><p>“What do you do for him?” Legosi asked, initial irritation slowly beginning to ebb away as time moved along.</p><p>“Oh, just pick up the yard, water his plants, feed his bugs,” he listed nonchalantly. “Just the things he can’t do now that his legs are missing.”</p><p>“He has bugs?” Legosi wondered aloud, looking at Gosha and perking his ears interestedly. “Like… as pets?”</p><p>“Oh, yes - that was what I was going to talk to you about last night before I forgot,” Gosha realized, lifting his hands off the wheel and slapping it lightly in minor frustration. “I remembered you liked bugs a lot, but wasn’t sure if you still did. He has a bug farm.” He stopped at the stoplight, looking both ways and choosing to run the red light when he saw no one was coming (“Hopefully I don’t get a ticket for that - you never know with the new cameras they’re starting to put around the streets,” he muttered worriedly).“Lots of different bugs - beetles, butterflies, a couple praying mantises. They all have different bug feeds that he makes himself. It’s pretty simple to learn how to feed them, I’ll teach you up there.”</p><p>Legosi’s brow raised, huffing a short laugh. He propped his elbow on the windowsill and rested his face in the palm of his hand. “Didn’t think anyone else would like bugs that much to have their own bug farm,” he said, half to himself. “I wonder how he got all of them.”</p><p>“I asked that, once or twice - but he always avoided the question,” Gosha replied, smirking as he cut a vehicle off. “So I stopped asking. Assumed it was just a hobby he liked and didn’t have anything else to explain it with. He was always one who liked to have elaborate reasoning behind things.”</p><p>“Huh.”</p><p>Most of the ride after that took place in silence. When Legosi felt the conversation die, he reached in his pocket once more, the idle motion and feeling of the rough denim on the back of his hand already irksome to perform. <em> 5:30 AM. </em>Unlocking it, his fingers clicked on the messaging app that came with the phone, subconsciously scrolling down and clicking on Haru’s name and hovered his finger over the message box hesitantly. He did that a lot, he noticed: as much as the desire to communicate with Haru ached within his bones, what he knew he should say was scrambled in his mind, just out of reach, and when he delved for the words, they scattered like flies. Usually, after five minutes of wracking his brain uselessly for one solid sentence, he yielded and closed out the app, conflicted.</p><p>
  <em> &lt;He&gt; </em>
</p><p>
  <em> &lt;y&gt; </em>
</p><p>Legosi tensed as he sent both messages - <em> what was he thinking </em> - before relaxing. <em> Maybe I just need to start a conversation and not try to say anything fancy, </em> the wolf thought to himself. <em> Texting Haru is a lot different from talking to her. </em>He clicked the rectangular button on the side of his phone, the texture of the smooth glass comforting as he slid it in his pocket.</p><p>His eyes grew heavy when the bright lighting of the phone left him in the dark, and as his muscles calmed with the idea of rest, his last thoughts revolved around how Haru may respond.</p><p>~~~</p><p>Legosi woke up to the feeling of his shoulder being shaken; he swatted at his assailant until consciousness clarified his whereabouts. His eyes flew open, head darting around Gosha’s truck, which wasn’t moving.</p><p>“We’re here.” Gosha chuckled good-naturedly, shaking his head. “You’re wide awake after hours of sleep, but a log when I get you up after ten minutes.”</p><p>Legosi stepped out of the truck, scratching his head. “Sorry,” he muttered, idly gazing at the seemingly empty fields around him, the few trees lining the highway unevenly. He flipped himself around when he noticed Gosha was facing the other way. In front of them stood a dilapidated building on its last leg, the red paint peeling and long faded, and it seemed as if it would come crumbling down if any of them breathed wrong. The yard was barren, except for the occasional potted plant and one tree that stood in the middle of the walkway, and the fence wasn’t safe to touch, rusted, broken and jagged.</p><p>“Well, let’s go,” Gosha shrugged, walking around the truck and grabbing the water pail, humming and stepping towards the fence. He reached over the gate, carefully unlatching it from that end and swinging it open, the dead metal screeching at the movement. “I get afraid it’s going to cut me, even though I have scales,” he chuckled. He stepped in the yard confidently and watered the potted plants, skipping a small cactus (“I watered it yesterday - don’t want to overwater it! Cacti don’t need as much water.”) and going for the big tree, watering it as well. “It looks like the old coop managed to pick up after himself somehow,” Gosha noted, squinting his eyes and looking around. “I don’t see the usual mess that’s here.”</p><p>Legosi tilted his head curiously. “What mess?” he asked. “He can’t make a mess if he has no legs...”</p><p>Gosha laughed, beckoning him to follow around the side of the house. “People throw a lot of junk in his yard when they pass him, thinking it’s an abandoned house. So any passing cars will think that’s what we’re here to do, as well, even though I pick it up. You know - it’s almost become an urban legend of some sort,” he added, unlatching the equally uncared for side-gate. “Since all the trash disappears before anyone else bothers coming here, people think it’s some sort of spirit that roams the house.” He snorted, walking into the backyard. “What a joke.”</p><p>Legosi followed suit, stopping at the entrance of the back yard.</p><p>It was a complete contrast to the front yard past the first couple steps of the fence - greenery abounded, the neatly trimmed grass stretching about twenty yards behind the house. In the back right corner was a garden, ripe with tomatoes and other assorted fruits and vegetables, and to the left was what could only be the bug farm Gosha spoke of on the ride there - he could hear the buzz of bug wings from the gate.</p><p><em> “This </em>is what you do?” Legosi gasped, jaw dropping as he scanned his surroundings, taking each detail in one by one.</p><p>“He did this himself,” the lizard corrected, refilling the watering can with the hose against the wall. “I just upkeep it now, since he can’t.”</p><p>As if on cue, a metallic slam of a screen door made Legosi jump as he whipped his body around to the right to face it. He found himself looking down at a small primate in an oversized wheelchair, face and body littered in scratches - his most notable feature, however, was the obvious lack of lower limbs.</p><p><em> “Gosha!” </em>came a scratchy, wily and high-pitched voice from the monkey, whose face lit up when he recognized the old reptile. “Long time, no see, eh?” His wheelchair began rolling down the steep incline of the lazily-placed concrete slab that started after the doorway.</p><p>Gosha turned towards the door, smiling and waving at his friend’s greeting as he put his foot out to stop the runaway chair when it came to him. “Long time, no see, Seb,” Gosha laughed, using his foot to engage the wheel-lock. “How’ve you been?”</p><p>The monkey let out a wheezy laugh, falling into a coughing fit before answering. “I wouldn’t be alive if I didn’t catch myself, yesterday,” he blurted. “I fell off my chair, I did - but Seb caught himself with his hands.” He held up two tiny paws, which seemed to bear the most recent scratches. “Landed on a glass plate, eh?”</p><p>Gosha <em> tsked, </em>sighing and shaking his head in disappointment. “Seb, I told you to be more careful,” he scolded lightly, lifting him up onto his shoulder. “Aren’t you supposed to be in bed, by now?"</p><p>“Aren’t <em> you </em> ?” Seb retorted, a terrible ‘ <em> eeeheehee’ </em>substituting for a laugh from his new perch. “You’re here early, eh? Seb rarely has visitors, so I stay, eh?”</p><p>“Alright, alright, keep your legs on,” Gosha retaliated, picking up the watering can and heading for the garden. “This is my <em> friend I told you about, </em>Legosi,” Gosha emphasized, pointing vaguely in the wolf’s direction.</p><p>Legosi, stopped, unaware he’d started following them. “G-gra-”</p><p>He stopped dead in his sentence when Gosha turned his head and nailed him with a cold, hard bullet of a look.</p><p>“Gra-great! To meet you, mister Seb,” Legosi saved, clearing his throat and walking to the old man, putting out his hand gently, careful to hide his claws and teeth. “Gr-<em> Gosha </em> told me a lot about you,” he added, ignoring said lizard’s glare.</p><p>“Mister? <em> Pha pha!” </em>Seb guffawed, throwing his head back, somehow not falling off Gosha’s shoulder. “No ‘Mister.’ I am Seb.” He turned around, landing on his hands. “Go now, eh? I need sleep.”</p><p>Gosha shot a more friendly glare to the friend on his shoulder. “You could have stayed, old man,” he pointed out wryly. “We’ll hurry up just for you, then.”</p><p>As they walked, movement below Gosha’s waist caught Legosi’s eye. The Komodo dragon crossed his fingers briefly, then switched the can from his right hand into the one behind his back.</p><p>Legosi immediately recognized that gesture - it was the sign they had always used when Gosha needed Legosi to play along or to trust him. This had been particularly useful in public situations: since the law against interspecies marriage with poisonous reptiles meant that Legosi’s mother, and therefore himself, were never supposed to be born, a komodo dragon with a young wolf in public sometimes aroused suspicion. Legosi distinctly remembered a certain situation where his grandpa had to convince a police officer that he was a family friend, and not a pedophile, rapist, Back Alley Market dealer, or otherwise a threat to Legosi’s wellbeing. They’d even called Leano (never mind <em> Legosi’s </em> word), and when <em> that </em> didn’t quite work for them, they called <em> him </em>in.</p><p>And due to <em> his </em>fame at the time, the officer left without even a report when Miyagi rolled up in his limousine in a fury.</p><p>Legosi shook himself out of his thoughts when he realized Gosha had already walked away and he was alone, clearing his throat and taking a long step towards the odd duo. Once he caught up, he tuned in on the conversation his temporary ‘friend’ and Seb were having as they watered the plants, but as animated and intriguing that was, he felt it blur and melt from his hearing as he sunk back into his mind, melancholy covering it like a soft blanket.</p><p>He had always hated the nature of their grandfather-grandson relationship. Not that he hated Gosha - he <em> loved </em> Gosha with his life - but just that their relationship was always so secretive and ‘hush-hush.’ He looked up from the ground he was studying to stare at the back of his grandpa’s head. <em> Grandpa is a good person - he upholds pacifism, saves people, and even works at an orphanage for unwanted hybrid children. Why should it be so hard for him to just be in a relationship and have a family like every other animal? Interspecies marriage was even legal back then.  </em> Legosi briefly thought of his own interspecies relationship with Haru, worrying suddenly gnawing at his bones. <em> Will I have to live like grandpa if me and Haru’s children look like dwarf rabbits? </em></p><p>“Well, that’s the last of them,” Gosha nodded, turning to Legosi and pointing in the direction of the big farm. “Come on, Legosi, I still have to teach you how to feed the bugs.” His scales shone dully in the light of the sky, the sun not quite up but still reflecting in the clouds.</p><p>Legosi gulped in surprise, turning on his heel and leading the way toward the bug farm. It wasn’t a big structure, the farm being made up of several small cages that were on top of in-table like stands that held them up away from the ground. They still only reached Legosi’s shins, but the wolf suspected that it was because Seb was about as tall as the cage itself.</p><p>The bars in the cages were just spread apart so the bugs couldn’t escape, but the small party could look through it and see the bugs easily. Gosha hadn’t lied to him - Seb had beetles, butterflies, praying mantises, even bees in the two white boxes Legosi hadn’t noticed until then.</p><p>“Okay, so it’s pretty simple to feed,” Gosha told Legosi, pointing at the sturdy-looking gunny sacks that were leaned against the fence behind the cages. “These bags are in the same order as the cages, from right to left - beetles, mantises, bees, stickbugs. For the butterflies, though, Seb makes them nectar - which he keeps in that green pail next to the other bags.”</p><p>Gosha went on to explain the details, Legosi nodding when appropriate and asking questions to clarify some of the steps, eyeing the beetles from time to time.</p><p>When they finished feeding, Legosi carried the bags and the pail back to their respective spots and turned to Gosha, expectant of another task, but Gosha just swiped his hand to the left. “We’re done here, Legosi,” he confirmed, smiling warmly. “I told you it’d be easier when we were both here.”</p><p>“Oh.” Legosi couldn’t help but stare at the beetle cages again, biting his lip anxiously.</p><p>Seb, still on Gosha’s shoulder, hopped off and landed on his hands, making both Gosha and Legosi gasp. Seemingly unaffected, he hand-walked quickly towards the beetle cages and unlatched one of them, turning and shooting Legosi a big, yellow-toothed grin. “Coulda just asked, if you wanted to hold one, eh?” he cackled breezily, reaching in and immediately bringing his hand out with a singular rhinoceros beetle on his finger. “‘Ere,” he grunted, reaching his hand up while balancing on his other hand.</p><p>Legosi, eyes still wide from the fact an ancient and supposedly frail monkey just fell from a six-foot-eight Komodo dragon’s shoulder, crouched down quickly to lightly scoop the beetle out of Seb’s small palm, placing it gently on his fingers.</p><p><em> “Seb,” </em>Gosha hissed, reaching down and lifting the monkey back on his shoulders. “You can’t keep doing that,” he reprimanded sternly, narrowing his eyes. “You’re going to either die or become a torso monkey, one of these times.”</p><p>Legosi tuned Seb’s retort out, choosing to instead focus on the rhino beetle in front of him. It was a skittish thing - when Legosi took it, he noticed that the bug tried to crawl back into Seb’s hand, as if comforted by its owner’s paws. <em> I wonder if he’s ever taken them out to play. </em> He poked the bug on the rear end with the tip of his claw, and it immediately scuttled from his finger to his wrist. “Sorry,” Legosi muttered quietly, placing the tip of his finger on top of its back. The beetle didn’t seem to mind that, as it stood still, even when he took the finger off. “You’re a funny little one,” he chuckled lightly, bringing his finger to the tiny horns in the front. Legosi was painfully reminded of Rhiny, Legosi’s old rhinoceros beetle he’d kept at school. Rhiny always loved being poked on the horns. His first rhinoceros beetle had died when Legosi saved Haru from the Shishigumi, and when he finally got himself to his dorm, he’d been heartbroken at the news.</p><p>The previous bickering suddenly came to a hush; Legosi perked his ears and broke his focus from the beetle to find Seb and Gosha’s gazes looking from the bug and Legosi repeatedly.</p><p>“W-what?” he barked defensively, blushing beneath his pelt. “What’s wrong?” He looked to and from his grandpa and Seb, irrational fear prickling at his neck fur.</p><p>“You never told me ‘e liked bugs so much, eh?” Seb said, tone surprisingly monotone compared to his other outbursts.</p><p>“I didn’t know either,” Gosha replied quietly with wide eyes, as if Legosi couldn’t hear. “I knew he liked bugs when he was little, but…”</p><p><em> “What?” </em>Legosi repeated, using his unoccupied hand to instinctively guard the beetle and checking his outward appearance to make sure nothing was off. “I had a pet one of these before. Why are you looking at-“</p><p>Gosha interrupted with a chuckle and a dismissive wave. “Oh, it’s nothing, boy - I was just surprised that you haven’t changed a bit in some ways. You really gave me the impression that you’d completely changed when we met up before you just came and visited this time.” Gosha turned his head to his primate partner, smirking. “He might have what it takes to run one of these himself when he gets older, don’tchya think, Seb?”</p><p>The old monkey hadn’t taken his eyes off Legosi, which sent a shiver down the younger animal’s spine. Something about his scarred face, the face of wounded prey with so much confidence in his eyes at his ancient age made Legosi fear and respect Seb on a different plateau than every other animal he respected in his life. This was the face of unafraid and undaunted prey. He reminded Legosi of Haru and Louis in that way.</p><p>“Does wolf boy want it?”</p><p>Legosi blinked after a moment of processing the question, cocking his head curiously. “A-as in… I can <em> take </em> this one?” he replied, surprise and hope mixing together in his chest. When the panamanian didn’t respond, his ears perked, the right one twitching. “Really?”</p><p>“Seb sees you know bugs,” he stated slowly. “Put me down.” Gosha, visibly confused, put down Seb, who hand-walked to Legosi and looked up at Legosi, who crouched even further. “Take as a reminder of Seb. And when Seb dies, <em> you </em> take <em> my </em> farm and house,” he said from his upside-down position, smiling at his own generosity. He beckoned the wolf down further, so he obliged, putting his ear near Seb’s face. “You’ll be a good caretaker, just like Gosha was to you,” he trilled. “Your eyes are identical.” He burst out laughing, the terrible <em> eeheehee </em>reverberating in Legosi’s skull. “Seb grows tired, eh?” He announced, spinning on his palms to Gosha. “Help Seb to his chair…?”</p><p>~~~</p><p>As soon as they had said their goodbyes to Seb, and Gosha turned the key in the ignition, he turned his head to Legosi, sighing. “Thank you for recognizing the signal,” he started, sighing and putting his hands in the wheel and putting the vehicle in reverse when he saw no one was on the road. “We had a discussion a while back about interspecies marriage, and he was very violently passionate about how members of the same species should <em> stay </em>with their species. I, of course, had to agree with him or else he might’ve kicked me out of his house, which he can’t afford since he can’t move around as effectively as he can,” he added, pushing the stick forward and beginning the drive home. “So just for that time, he couldn’t know that you were my grandson. He might have flipped his lid something.”</p><p><em> Again, with that stigma. </em>Legosi opened his mouth to respond, but something made his mouth click shut. Why had Seb recognized that he was related to Gosha and did not poorly react? Gosha must have not heard him say that, which may have been his intent. But why would he hide his support for him?</p><p>“Oh, okay,” Legosi sighed, playing the ‘I-understand-I-can’t-be-related-to-you-sometimes’ game again. He took his phone out of his pocket while balancing the little tupperware that held his new beetle. “Yeah, I’m glad I remembered that sign, too. I would have blown our cover if you didn’t do that.” He turned his head to Gosha. “He seemed nice, though. If a little blunt and unrealistic.”</p><p>Gosha snickered, nodding his head. “Yeah, well… he was like that before his legs were removed, too,” he told Legosi. “It just got a little worse after that. I’m surprised he took such a liking to you, anyway,” he added, running a ‘STOP’ sign. “He was eaten up by a canine, so when he wasn’t asleep like I thought he would be, I expected him to act distasteful to you.”</p><p>Legosi flattened his ears and closed his eyes, fur prickling uncomfortably. “It’s always the canines that get caught,” he mused miserably, looking out the window. “And always the dog blamed for something that was out of their control. It really just…” he sighed deeply, swallowing. “It’s always made me feel just… horrible. About being a wolf and not being able to suppress my instincts, even after <em> months </em> of training. I kinda just wish I was born a beetle, or an herbivore, or something - it’s honorable when <em> they’re </em> strong, but oppressive when carnivores are. The government <em> mandates </em> growth stunting pills to brown bears so they’re not as strong as they could be - for <em> safety measures </em> .” Legosi felt his heart shrivel - <em> why am I saying this, stop, he’s just going to try to make you feel better about yourself - </em>as he awaited Gosha’s response.</p><p>But instead of getting the words he expected, the Komodo dragon remained silent for several moments, which put Legosi at a complicated sort of ease. <em> Maybe he just won’t say anything about it. </em></p><p>“Well, you’re right about one thing,” Gosha spoke up finally, making Legosi’s heart jump to his throat. “Hebivores certainly have the advantage when it comes to strength. They have all of society at their backs - herbivore empowerment and all. But where you’re misguided,” he added, tone taking a harder edge to it, “is that you’re widely inexperienced with the kind of animals who predate. They are almost one hundred percent of the time grown men and women who let their instincts overwhelm them. You, on the other hand, are eighteen, hardly an adult.” He patted the steering wheel, cursing under his breath when a small car cut them off. “I’m <em> going </em> the speed limit,” he grumbled. “Anyway, you’re still a teenager. It’s a complicated time!” he continued, turning and shooting his grandson a wide smile. “Emotions and feelings are going haywire as you transition into adulthood, and suppressing your instincts is actually harder while you’re a teenager than when you’re an adult and your emotions stabilize. You might not think so, but you’re on the path of an honorably strong carnivore, compared to the animals who still have a hard time suppressing their predatory instincts while they’re thirty, forty, fifty. The female who went after Seb was thirty-six. It’s supposed to be easier for females, anyway, since they’re naturally not as inclined to hunt and chase like males are. Anyway - you’re doing fine, and there’s not a reason you should doubt your own existence because of something other animals do.” He ended with a cough, turning on the road that led most of the way back to Gosha’s house. </p><p>Legosi took a moment to soak his grandpa’s words in as the trees and foliage zipped past, and the more he thought about it, the more he realized he was right. He wasn’t acting on instinct when he ate Louis’ leg. He knew Gosha wouldn’t lie to him about something like this, especially when he spoke with that tone. <em> He’s a lot wiser than I remember him being when I was younger. </em>Perhaps he was always this wise, and he’d been too young to understand it then.</p><p>The thing that really stuck in Legosi’s mind, however, was how Seb had to move and live since his predation incident. He was so small and fragile, Legosi could probably snap his neck with his fingers if he wanted to. Combined with Gosha’s words, he was reminded of Haru - she wasn’t as small as Seb, but she was certainly not very strong, physically - he’d bodied her when he tried to eat her the first night he saw the dwarf rabbit. Legosi couldn’t stand to think about what she might look like or have to live like if he were to eat her legs or arms. Which meant he couldn’t stand to think about eating meat, either, or the fact he’d done it before.</p><p>“Thanks, grandpa.”</p><p>“No problem. That’s why I’m here.”</p><p>He smiled at that, and when Gosha didn’t follow up, he pressed the ‘home’ button on his phone, almost dropping his beetle when he saw he had a missed call and a text from Haru. Was it seven o’clock already?</p><p>
  <em> &lt;He&gt; </em>
</p><p>
  <em> &lt;y&gt; </em>
</p><p>
  <em>                                               &lt;why did you text me at five </em>
</p><p>
  <em>                                                 in the morning lol&gt; </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Legosi winced, typing back hurriedly:</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> &lt;Sorry&gt; </em>
</p><p>
  <em> &lt;Didn’t think about the time </em>
</p><p>
  <em>  when I woke up&gt; </em>
</p><p>
  <em>                                                       (...) </em>
</p><p>
  <em>                                                            * </em>
</p><p> </p><p>“Who’re you texting?”</p><p>Legosi jumped, still mindful of keeping his beetle from falling over. “H-Haru. My girlfriend.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>                                                  &lt;ofc you didn’t lol.  wyd in like two hours&gt; </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Oh. Maybe I should tell her I’m with my grandpa, huh? </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> &lt;Uhhhm funny story actually&gt; </em>
</p><p>
  <em> &lt;Long story short&gt; </em>
</p><p>
  <em> &lt;I’m living with my grandpa </em>
</p><p>
  <em>  for the week because  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> something happened and I  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> can’t really talk about it right  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> now, when I get back we’ll </em>
</p><p>
  <em> meet up. I’m sorry&gt; </em>
</p><p>
  <em>                                                             &lt;Legosi&gt; </em>
</p><p>
  <em>                                                             &lt;I stg&gt; </em>
</p><p>
  <em>  &lt;I didn’t mean to, it sort of </em>
</p><p>
  <em> just happened it’s more&gt; </em>
</p><p>
  <em> &lt;complicated than you think&gt; </em>
</p><p>
  <em>                                                           &lt;it’s always more </em>
</p><p>
  <em>                                                             complicated than I think&gt; </em>
</p><p>
  <em>                                                           &lt;any time I think I got </em>
</p><p>
  <em>                                                             you figured out you </em>
</p><p>
  <em>                                                            surprise me with another </em>
</p><p>
  <em>                                                           scar or wound or </em>
</p><p>
  <em>                                                          SOMETHING&gt; </em>
</p><p>
  <em>                                                        &lt;you’re suddenly a big man </em>
</p><p><em>                                                         when you drop out of  </em> <em> school&gt; </em></p><p>
  <em> &lt;Haru&gt; </em>
</p><p>
  <em> &lt;I’m sorry&gt; </em>
</p><p>
  <em> &lt;I don’t MEAN t&gt; </em>
</p><p>
  <em> &lt;o&gt; </em>
</p><p>
  <em> &lt;and this time it really is </em>
</p><p>
  <em> something that’s personal </em>
</p><p>
  <em> and something I can’t </em>
</p><p>
  <em> explain rn I’m so sorry </em>
</p><p>
  <em> but I can’t explain </em>
</p><p>
  <em> but I’m okay&gt; </em>
</p><p>
  <em>                                                &lt;you said you were okay  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>                                                  when you were bleeding </em>
</p><p>
  <em>                                                 out when you fought </em>
</p><p>
  <em>                                                 that bear&gt; </em>
</p><p>
  <em>                                                &lt;Legosi I’m so scared for </em>
</p><p>
  <em>                                                 you all the time&gt; </em>
</p><p> </p><p>“Did you tell her about us?” Gosha questioned, eyeballing Legosi in concern at the distressed look that had spread across his face. “You should probably tell her before you get too deep in the relationship.”</p><p>
  <em> Oh. </em>
</p><p>”I’m trying to tell her that I’ll be here for the week, but now she’s mad that I got hurt again,” he explained, frustration chewing at his brain. “But yeah, I-I should tell her. When I get back.”</p><p>
  <em> &lt;Haru I’m with my grandpa&gt; </em>
</p><p>
  <em> &lt;I’m okay&gt; </em>
</p><p>
  <em> &lt;I’ll explain everything when </em>
</p><p>
  <em> I get back and I’ll take you </em>
</p><p>
  <em> out to eat or something I </em>
</p><p>
  <em> promise&gt; </em>
</p><p>
  <em>                                                      &lt;...okay Legosi&gt; </em>
</p><p>
  <em>                                                     &lt;please be safe hmu </em>
</p><p>
  <em>                                                       when you get home ok&gt; </em>
</p><p>
  <em>                                                     &lt;tell me abt your grandpa </em>
</p><p>
  <em>                                                       too you never talked  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>                                                       abt your family&gt; </em>
</p><p>
  <em> &lt;Okay I will&gt; </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Legosi put his phone back in his pocket, leaning his head back on the worn-down head rest and let out an exhausted breath. “Are girls hard all the time?” he asked, secretly surprised at his own question and how out of character that was for him to ask.</p><p>Gosha snorted, shaking his head amusedly. The sunlight hit his scales when they moved past the trees, creating a disco-like pallet on the ceiling on the truck. “When you give them a reason to, I‘ve found,” he answered, turning on the last road to his house.</p><p>Legosi became acutely aware of the pattern on the ceiling, and he had to squint his eyes and draw in a breath to hold it to not burst out in laughter. Gosha turned to Legosi when he stopped at a traffic light, squinting back. “What?” Gosha interrogated, genuinely confused. “Is something off? Did your rabbit girlfriend say something…?”</p><p>“No, it’s - the sun. On your scales. I forgot they did that.” He pointed his finger to the ceiling, the flashes on lighting moving when Gosha looked up to the lights.</p><p>“Oh, that?” he snorted, shifting his attention back to the road. “Yeah, that happens a lot. What’s the issue?”</p><p>“N-nothing - just-” Legosi snorted, shooting his hand to his mouth. “I dunno, I’m sorry,” he mumbled through his hand, eyes seemingly transfixed on the lights. “It’s just…”</p><p>Gosha shot him a slightly annoyed look from the corner of his eyes, his attempt at frowning failing when his mouth curved up. “W-<em> what </em> ?” he chuckled, shaking his head. “It’s not that - <em> hehe </em> - funny, I don’t-”</p><p>Legosi bit his lip, hunching over and squeezing his eyes shut to avoid eye contact. “I-I’m not looking,” he promised, chest bouncing in his suppressed laughter. “I don’t know why I’m even laughing, I just...”</p><p>Gosha turned his head more fully to Legosi, squinting. “You’re lucky you’re immune to my poison,” he joked light-heartedly, rolling his eyes. “I’d have put some in your drink when we got home.”</p><p>Legosi snickered until they pulled into the loose-gravel driveway, finally calming down when Gosha <em> tsked </em>petulantly and slammed the door of his truck. Legosi knew that if he was hurt over that, he’d be back to his normal self by the time he got in the house, and sure enough:</p><p>“Let’s go eat at The Picky Eater tonight. I haven’t been in ages.”</p><p>Legosi’s ears perked: <em> The Picky Eater </em>was supposedly a famous restaurant, renowned for its unmatched blend of flavors - especially for the average carnivore’s rather fickle diet - and the family-owned company’s selfless hospitality. This place was the only subject discussed in every conversation he’d eavesdropped on when he passed the Foods Club, which was on the way to Political Science class.</p><p>“A-are you sure, grandpa?” Legosi asked, eyes widening marginally. “You don’t have to take me just because I’m here.”</p><p>“Sure, I’m sure!” Gosha laughed, clapping Legosi’s shoulder and causing him to cough. “I haven’t tasted anything quite like the curry and soy dish they have since I tried it, and I think you’ll want to experience that, too.” His wide and eager smile didn’t waver as his expectant stare drilled into Legosi’s eyes. <em> He genuinely wants me to go, doesn’t he? </em></p><p>“Uh-okay. Thanks,” he added as genuinely as he could muster, a shaky but sure smile crawling up his face. “I won’t lie, I’ve sort of… wanted to try it.” </p><p>“Good!” Gosha exclaimed, displacing his hand off of Legosi’s shoulder. “Uh, go ahead and get the cage and beetle feed for your new pet.”</p><p><em> Oh. </em>Legosi nodded and turned to the door, placing his hand on the cool brass knob and twisting the door open. He set the beetle down - “Be good,” he told her - and headed to the matted-black vehicle, going around and unlatching the light trunk to reveal the feed and cage Seb had given him.</p><p>Legosi picked up the feed and placed it in the cage like Seb had instructed right before they left, and lifted the cage, noticing the surprising amount of effort it took - it was more leaden than it looked. It was a wonder to think that Seb was once capable of carrying one. Craning his neck around the cage, he tiptoed his way to his room, minding the beetle he’d set on the ground earlier, and lowered it down next to the door. He took a deep breath - <em> how </em> in the name of Rex did Seb carry one of these? Even <em> if </em>he was young and had two legs, it must have been extremely difficult for him to carry. He went back to retrieve the beetle, placing it inside of the cage and onto a stick that had come with the environmental echo.</p><p>The beetle, Legosi saw, spread its mud-brown wings and fluttered them slightly; he remembered that Rhiny used to do this whenever he was put back in his cage. A small smile appeared on his face. How lovely would have been to be born a rhinoceros beetle - everything only appearing through such a small lens, and not having to carry the burdens of his world, content with being in a cage for a maximum of a six month life-span, not really significant to anything and being able to dissolve back into the dust of the Earth to perpetuate the life cycle along with millions of other beetles.</p><p>But then he thought of Haru, and Louis and everyone else he’d come into contact with since he started his junior year of high school, and friends like Jack whom he’d had his whole life. They’d all had a part in saving him: Haru was Legosi’s first love, Louis pushed him to realize he should use his strength for good, rather than suppressing it. Jack had always been dependable in the times he needed it the most. Gouhin had significantly improved Legosi’s physical capabilities. <em> How can I wish for such a simple life? </em></p><p>“You look like a ‘Debbie’,” he chuckled lightly, speaking as if the beetle could hear him. Perhaps she did. “I’ll call you Debbie.”</p><p>After sprinkling the feed into the cage, Legosi slumped on the leather couch where he would be sleeping for the next week, closing his eyes. <em> I’ve slept for two and a half hours, </em> he groaned within himself, slowly rolling over and laying his head on the baby-blue pillow Gosha had fetched him the night before. The dull ‘ <em> creak’ </em>of the leather somehow soothed him deeper - there was something about the sound leather made when it was rolled on that made the grey wolf feel like relaxing. Gosha should understand him taking a nap.</p><p>As the ever-pulsing void of sleep consumed his consciousness, he couldn’t help but attempt to grasp the grand mental puzzle of Haru, and desperately cling to the hope that his komodo dragon piece wouldn’t shatter the monument he’d set for their future.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Night Shift</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>College + writing = disaster!</p><p>Guys, THANK YOU so much for being so patient. As I get into the flow of college life, I get better at time management with writing and taking 20 units of coursework. I have not given up on this series!</p><p>Also, I won't be doing another one-shot any time soon. As much as I've improved as a writer with my platonic Bels one-shot, that took SO MUCH TIME out of Recalibrate's work. This is the series I'm working on right now, this is the series I will continue!</p><p>THANK YOU FOR 1000 HITS! I didn't think I'd be doing this well. I can't promise another chapter in just a week, but dang it, if I CAN, you WILL have a chapter in a week. Again, if it's possible.</p><p>On with the story! I hope I don't disappoint.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Chapter 6: Night Shift</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Pant, pant, pant. </em>
</p><p>Legosi didn’t bother to watch where his feet landed as he fled like lamb from the slaughter, the blackened and forested landscape before him rapidly closing in as he sprinted down the steep, charred hillside. Vertigo whispered through his lungs, pulling at his mind in a deceitful effort to promise peace and respite if he stopped, but he grit his teeth to distract himself, adrenaline devouring the exertion that threatened to consume his muscles and render him immobile. Losing his footing shortly following his descent, he toppled head first onto the singed Earth, choking back a shocked yawp. Reaching out his bristled arms just in time to block the impact to his head and quickly rolling on his back, the momentum caused him to plummet the rest of the length down. The grass easily uprooted itself and transfigured into a sticky, inklike liquid, splattering in great, devilish arcs and seeping into his gray fur.</p><p>When the ground finally evened out, Legosi slammed into the dense, dark, gelatinous terra, immediately rolling and planting his foot into it heavily and heaving himself back up to resume his sprint. The waving spectres of trees seemed to stretch their foul fingers with ill intent towards the gray wolf as he neared them, and he winced as he ran forward, crashing through the foliage anyway and ignoring the whips of the sharp little tendrils that slashed through his corium. When the forest swallowed Legosi whole and the trees physically shifted to close its new prey from the outside world, he took a moment to clutch his chest and breathe. The gray wolf huffed and shook his head, whipping his head around to pan his surroundings - no amount of dense forestry would stop <em> that thing. </em>The forest didn’t take kindly to intruders.</p><p>His search revealed a corridor-like passage made up of the trees; each weeping willow’s ambiguous persona swayed in the light breeze, rhythmically syncing with Legosi’s throbbing heart in a dramatic taunt of victory over his soul. Gasping for air, his lungs burnt with the effort it took to breath, continuing his desperate race as he bolted through the hallway and snapped to the right path when the road forked into a ‘T’.</p><p>The intervals of the compacted greenery uncannily diminished as Legosi ran on, seeming to close in on him as he twisted and turned through the cryptic maze. <em> No, no, no, no. </em>In his heart, he knew that hope for escape was futile, squeezing his eyes shut to force frustrated tears down at his foolishness - he was doing exactly what the forest had intended him to do - to run and get lost in its treacherous folds.</p><p>A garbled, gut-wrenching wail in the distance snapped him out of his thoughts, eyes flying open as the low hissing sound of being uprooted followed the thing’s cry.</p><p>
  <em> It’s here. </em>
</p><p>A thrill of pure, unorthodox fear throbbed throughout Legosi’s whole body, and he had to clench his teeth to keep himself from succumbing to it and caterwauling. It birthed new fervor within him as he wove his way aimlessly through the somber labyrinthian locus. <em> Is this what prey feels like? Fleeing in the dark helplessly, their only hope being their will to run away to live? </em></p><p>
  <em> Crunch, crunch, crunch. </em>
</p><p>Hackles rising, another tremor ran through his body at the footsteps, a painful contrast to the squelching of each of his own footsteps in the muddy ink. He instinctively darted in the opposite direction of the sound, foot sliding for a split second before he caught his balance again. <em> Is it that close already? </em></p><p>Legosi felt his foot hitch on something he couldn’t identify, ink filling his mouth as he stumbled and tripped in a heap head first into the murky Earth. Heaving a mighty cough, he jerked his head out of it, wiping his eyes with the small part of his sleeve that hadn’t been severely tainted by the dark substance.</p><p>He opened his eyes when he cleared the ink from his eyelids, gasping and shooting back up when he was greeted with a completely white atmosphere instead of the stinginess of the forest. The ink on his hands was now white. The trees only had a black outline to distinguish themselves from the majority of his new surroundings.</p><p>
  <em> Crunch, crunch, crunch. </em>
</p><p>Back straightening at the noise, he reached out his foot to keep running - but a dull <em> thud </em>stopped his foot.</p><p>
  <em> A dead end? </em>
</p><p>Legosi whirled around to run again, but immediately put his back to the wall when he saw what was in front of him, eyes widening and pupils shrinking.</p><p>It was invisible, yet it cast a hideous dark aura onto the saccharine ink, its formless shadow encroaching its way to the gray wolf, like a predator playing with prey.</p><p>“G-go away!” he yelped, every hair on his body standing up as he willed himself to meld with the wall behind him. “I-I’ll hurt you!” He internally cringed at his petulance, the sour taste of ink accenting the sudden nausea in his stomach.</p><p>Closer.</p><p>Closer.</p><p>It was almost <em> touching </em>Legosi, yet he already felt its fangs tearing at his flesh, the bated condensation of its hot breath playing against his skin. Its formless manifestation had him pinned, like predator and prey, hunter and the hunted.</p><p>Legosi shuddered, shoulders flopping in defeat as he closed his eyes.</p><p>~~~</p><p>“Wake up!”</p><p>Legosi’s eyes snapped open as his leg shot in the air, his blanket pulling up to let in a gust of air that baptised Legosi’s body in an icy draft as he folded into a sitting position. His head darted to and fro, not fully comprehending his surroundings as he threw the blanket off and put his feet to the ground. Slow breaths conflicted with the vivace of his heart beat, and as his racing mind slowed down, his vision focused to reveal his grandfather; Gosha’s scaled hands were raised to his chest, one brow lifted and eyes wide open.</p><p>“You… have a nightmare or something?” he inquired slowly, chin tilted away from the gray wolf.</p><p>Legosi blinked hard, reaching his trembling arms up to rub his eyes in an effort to shake himself awake. “...H-huh?” he stammered, jaw slack.</p><p>Gosha huffed out a short laugh, reaching out his arm to pat Legosi’s shoulder consolatorily, quirking a wry grin. “Let’s go to the Picky Eater, shall we?” he changed the topic, pointing his eyes at the gray wolf’s outfit. “Just fix your fur and change into some different clothes, yeah? Ya look nasty.”</p><p>He nodded, mumbling an ‘okay’ as he turned to go to the bathroom, his muscles aching in defiance at the movement. <em> I need to splash water on my face. </em> His eyes wandered to the digital clock that was stationed next to his impromptu bedroom, stiffening when a bright red <em> 9:00 PM </em>flashed before his eyes. Swallowing, he half-turned back to Gosha, subconsciously rubbing his neck.</p><p>“Grandpa, aren’t we too late?”</p><p>“No, we’re alright,” the older lizard chuckled, shaking his head. “They’re a twenty-four hour service, for nocturnal animals as well. They make exceptions for late-night diurnal animals like us.” He turned away and headed out the doorway, calling behind his back, “I’ll be in the truck.”</p><p>Legosi sighed and turned the cool, bronze door knob to expose the guest restroom, which donned finely polished, white granite floors and countertops. The room smelled distinctly of some sort of antiseptic alcohol mixture. Gosha had forced him to memorize a poison-proof method when he was younger: in the case he ever helped someone who was or may have been exposed to komodo dragon’s venom, he should use polyethylene bags to dispose of any clothing that was affected and to wash their exposed body part with a strong alcohol disinfectant. In the case he had neither, his best option was to just drop the clothes wherever the animal was at and pour hot water over the area of infection, or just run for the nearest health center.</p><p>That was the smell he remembered so well.</p><p>Flipping on the tap, he cupped his hands under the stream that poured out and waited for the water to fill his hands before gently lifting the makeshift reservoir to his face, being careful not to accidentally get any in his nose as he rubbed the ruffled fur on his face. When he opened his eyes again, he took a deep breath, slowly letting it out as a sense of security slowly spirited his prior panic away. <em> I must’ve had a bad dream. </em></p><p>Stepping out of the bright room, he stripped off his clothing, only then feeling how damp and matted the cloth was to his fur. <em> Was I </em> <em> sweating </em> <em> ? </em>The coolness of the room blasted Legosi through his fur, his skin crawling in protest. Opening the closet despite his desire to curl himself back up in a ball for warmth, he fumbled his hand around the hangers he had brought until he blindly pulled out a smooth undershirt and a corduroy button up. He threw that on his bed and balanced on one foot until he fished out a sleek pair of dark jeans he kept around for fancy outgoings like the Picky Eater (he figured Gosha would want to take him somewhere, no matter how much Legosi insisted that there was no need).</p><p>He half walked, half dressed himself out the door, cellphone and wallet in between his teeth as he opened the door to the truck, and when he shut the door he strapped on his seat belt and dropped the accessories into his hands, sliding them into his pockets.</p><p>“You really slept for a while,” Gosha chuckled after turning the ignition, turning his head to back the vehicle up. “How late did you stay up last night?”</p><p>Legosi huffed his laughter through his nose, lacing his fingers together and placing them on his lap. “Uh… I don’t know,” he replied noncommittally, unprepared to admit that he was awake well past midnight. “I didn’t really check the time.”</p><p>Gosha snorted, turning the steering wheel to straighten the vehicle and pulling back on the gear stick. “Kids like you stay up too long these days,” Gosha commented, rolling down the window and leaning his elbow on the sill to grip the top of the vehicle. “It was a blessing to be up past nine when I was your age. Then again, we did wake up earlier, and I am still a komodo dragon, so my sleep schedule is irregular anyway,” he added with a small shrug. “Anyway, you’re going to love this place - I really think you’ll like their egg and cheese mixers.” He removed his grip from the car and back on the steering wheel, patting it lightly and clicking his tongue. “I can’t <em> wait </em>for their curry and soy foods they have.”</p><p>Silence fell after that, and neither one of them attempted to change that; Legosi felt as if that was the most comfortable thing for the moment for the both of them, as the atmosphere noticeably relaxed as the road winded on. Legosi thought of his dream, but didn’t take so much time to try to delve into the matter - it didn’t matter much how long he slept: evidently that nightmare had drained a fair margin of rest from the twelve hours’ worth of sleep he’d gotten.</p><p>When they entered downtown, the transition was almost immediate - flashing lights of different businesses, the masses of working animals, street vendors, all distracting Legosi from their initial mission. Through Gosha’s open window, his nose caught wind of carnivore scent, some of them easily distinguishable from each other, some of them muddled with the rest of the crowd - the small carnivores especially. The sharp and obvious scent of dog intruded its way through Legosi’s sinuses, reminding him with a pang of Jack and his friends at room 701. After not being near them for a year, he already wasn’t as resistant to the scent he’d acclimated to over his lifetime.</p><p><em> This city... is bigger than mine, </em> Legosi observed, the amount of animals and buildings in one space pressing on Legosi’s chest. <em> I could never live in a city like this. </em></p><p>“And, we’re here.”</p><p>Legosi snapped out of his intellection, looking to Gosha and following the finger he pointed, brows raising at the building he beheld before him. It was a grand structure, almost colosseum-like in appearance, with great columns of beige cement framing the frilly, baroque double doors. A large sign that was clear above the door clearly flashed the words <em> Picky Eater </em>in neon red and blue in a similar fashion to the rest of the downtown area’s businesses. </p><p>“Come on, then, don’t want to keep them waiting. They might give our appointment to someone else if we’re late.” The komodo dragon stepped out of the truck, stuffing his hands in his pockets in a way Legosi could only assume was to blend in with the surroundings of this new city, so he stepped out as well and slid his hands into his pockets as well.</p><p>“You made an appointment?”</p><p>Gosha hummed his confirmation, stepping up the great steps and pushing the door open, standing to the side to let Legosi through. “Only way you can get anywhere in this part of town these days,” he vaguely explained, gesturing with his arm to the interior, the lights that lit the porch of the restaurant glinting off of Gosha’s arm. It made Legosi squint when the glare went over his field of vision as he stepped into the building.</p><p>
  <em> Good thing I brought these pants. </em>
</p><p>It wasn’t as big or bright as Legosi had assumed from the outside appearance, the walls and ceiling consisting of dark purples and blues. With the dimmed lights over every table, Legosi almost felt as if he never left the darkness of the outside world. A small pulpit-esc stand stood in the middle of what must have been the waiting area, a short raccoon in a black and white pinstripe tuxedo stationed at it, a name tag that read <em> Mark </em>accented on his chest.</p><p>“Hello, and welcome to <em> Picky Eater </em>,” the raccoon greeted formally, walking out from behind the stand and looking up to the pair, beady eyes widening a little when his gaze went over Gosha. “W-who is this reservation for, may I ask?” he queried, voice abruptly taking a higher pitch.</p><p>“For Gosha,” the komodo dragon answered, smiling with his lips shut to hide his teeth, lacing his fingers so his claws weren’t visible from the host. “I had the table in the back.”</p><p>Legosi looked at Gosha, eyes shooting open. “Gr-<em> Gosha </em>,” he hissed under his breath. Gosha ignored him, stepping forward when the raccoon quickly stepped back and gestured for them to follow him.</p><p>The tables were refined, polished, and almost as clean as the restroom Legosi had used at Gosha’s house, the only difference being the lack of the smell of disinfectant. Animals of a variety of shapes and sizes littered the tables: bats, mice, hedgehogs, some cats - even some diurnal animals like Gosha told him: dogs, deer, different monkeys, even an elephant. How that elephant got through was beyond Legosi.</p><p>"It looks dark in here because it's nighttime, by the way," Gosha explained as they walked on. "They have special blinds they flip during the night to make it more comfortable for the nocturnal animals. Then they'll flip them in the day for diurnal animals, and that's a different color palette." A closer look at the walls confirmed Gosha's statement - the gears and buttons that were spaced several feet apart revealed that what Legosi thought to be the walls were just huge, wall-sized blinds.</p><p>Eventually, after walking past several tables, they rounded a corner, where several, lonely and round tables were spaced several feet from each other behind a wall and under dimmer light than the rest of the building.</p><p>“The - here we, gentlemen,” the raccoon sputtered, quickly bowing courteously to Legosi and Gosha. “If you need anything, <em> don’t hesitate to ask-” </em></p><p>He was swiftly interrupted by Gosha bowing in return, taking the host’s small paw into his hard hand and shaking it. “Thank you, Mark. That’s very kind of you.” He took the menus the host had taken with him gently, setting them on the table as he sat and propped his elbows on the surface.</p><p>The raccoon gulped loudly, nodding his head and backing away, finally turning away and walking from the back of the restaurant.</p><p>Gosha sighed, tapping his clasped hands on his chin thoughtfully. “I suppose they aren’t used to seeing komodo dragons here,” he chuckled, taking a fist and knocking on the tables. “You gonna sit?”</p><p>Legosi broke from his rigid stance, turning to Gosha as his lips tightened, taking a deep breath and grasping the chair on the opposite end of his grandpa and pulling it out. He sat himself with a dull <em> thunk, </em> letting the breath out slowly. Gosha cleared his throat.</p><p>“Usually these are the, erm, ‘lover’ tables here, but I just thought-”</p><p>“Do you still sit in the back of restaurants when you go alone, grandpa?” Legosi solicited tersely, eyes narrowing as he leaned forward onto his elbows and crossing his ankles under his chair.</p><p>Gosha blinked, slowly letting out his breath as he leaned back into his seat and crossing his fingers on his lap. The dim lamp light reflected the sentimentality in his eyes, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “Legosi,” he started slowly, gaze redirecting to the table. “You know this. I am a komodo dragon. It is my obligation to not cause a scene when I pose such a threat to society by my poison. You saw how terrified that raccoon was, right? Not only am I representing carnivores, I am representing all kinds of reptiles.” He brought his scope of vision back to Legosi, eyes narrowing darkly. “I never got to tell you this last time we met, but us reptiles have an unspoken code that runs deep within our species. If any one of us gets charged with a criminal offense, reptilian word spreads faster than menial herbivore gossip, and our names and species will be made known to every reptile in the area. We do not associate ourselves with criminal reptiles.” He rolled up his sleeve, unfastening his watch and sliding his slim fingers over the back of his left hand. “This is where criminal reptiles are marked when imprisoned, and what every reptile shop-keeper or business owner checks when a reptilian customer walks in, and what they look for when reviewing job applicants. Some reptiles have to turn to the Back Alley Market for their source of money, and some even forfeit their hyper-drug creating body parts for a considerable amount of cash.” He folded his arms, shrugging his shoulders back in a stretch. “So, you see,” finished, flashing Legosi a toothy grin. “That’s why I keep myself back here. <em> I’m </em>not ashamed of it. Less problem for everyone, and I get to have more alone time with you.”</p><p>Legosi’s ears perked, and as he talked he found himself fixated on Gosha’s scaled hand, and he found himself slowly beginning to connect the pieces of the mystery of his grandfather together. <em> Is this what he’s had to do his whole life? </em> he couldn’t help but wonder, the smooth table rubbing against his elbows as he sat up straighter. <em> This must have not been just about me at all. It was about the rest of his life, and being able to care for himself, </em> <em> and </em> <em> for me when I was little. </em></p><p>“Your menus, sirs.”</p><p>Legosi lifted his chin at the deep voice that interrupted his thoughts, instinctively reaching out his hand to gently take the menu from the waiter. “Th-thank you,” he stuttered, clenching his teeth at himself for his verbal flub. <em> I always- </em></p><p>Legosi’s jaw slackened, hands freezing in the air as his eyes shot open at the figure in front of him, any thoughts evaporating from his mind as the image of the waiter in front of him poured into Legosi’s mind instead. It was like a shadow that appeared from nothing, a shameful mix of anticipation and dread that made Legosi’s neck fur stand on its end and his ears flatten against his skull.</p><p>The wide build, the clean cut fur, those narrow, gray eyes. The pinstripe suit.</p><p>
  <em> What is he doing <span class="u">here</span>? </em>
</p><p>Miyagi gawked back at Legosi, his narrow and cold eyes widening for a moment before he cleared his throat. “What shall I prepare you to drink tonight?” he inquired. His expression reverted back to its stoicism that Legosi remembered so painfully well: lips set in a straight line, eyes open and attentive, ears perking toward whom he addressed. It almost hadn’t changed since his childhood.<br/><br/>“Well, let’s see,” Gosha hummed, not even sparing either wolf a glance as he reached into the pocket of his shirt to pull out his reading glasses and placing them on his nose. “It’s been a while since I was here last,” he clarified, chuckling good-humouredly as he flipped through the thick, laminated papyrus. His finger paused at a page, and he lowered the menu and squinted at Legosi. “Do you want to drive home tonight?”</p><p>Legosi blinked, slowly turning his head to Gosha, eyes wide in bewilderment. “Uh-uh, s-sure, grandpa.”</p><p>“Thanks, uh… I’ll take a <em> Sonote D’Or, </em>red please,” Gosha ordered. Miyagi whipped out his pen and scribbled an acronym down, and he turned to Legosi. “And you?” Miyagi prompted nondescriptly, his steely gaze meeting and locking with Legosi’s. He found himself confined within the eye contact, unable to free himself from his rapidly increasing heartbeat.</p><p>Gosha cleared his throat, peeping from his menu at the younger gray wolf from across the table. “...You know, Legosi… if you wanted, I could order you a drink, and I could drive home,” he offered carefully, claws <em> clacking </em>against the firm pages as he drummed his fingers on them.</p><p>He tore his gaze from the elder wolf when he heard his heart beating in his temples, briefly putting his fingers to his temples and closing his eyes as he lowered his chin towards the table. Gosha’s offer seemed rooms away, almost nothing more than an echo to his ears. “...N-no thank you, grandpa, I don’t drink. Water. I just need water, tonight, please.”</p><p>Miyagi scribbled down another acronym and reached into his black satin uniform pocket to pull out a black and silk dinner napkin, placing it in front of Legosi with a dull <em> click </em>from the utensils rolled up inside. He turned to Gosha for a moment, and cleared his throat lightly. “Sir, my apologies, but I would be reaching beyond my limits as a worker if I provided a komodo dragon with the business’s cutlery. Perhaps you would be interesting in purchasing a special set of-”</p><p>“Quite alright, I assure you,” Gosha interrupted, waving dismissively as he stared at the pages on his menu. “I brought my own special silverware.”</p><p>“Very well,” Miyagi answered politely, bowing formally as was custom in expensive restaurants. “I will be back posthaste with your drinks.”</p><p>When Miyagi turned and sauntered away from their table, Legosi clasped his hands together and put them in his lap under the tabletop, wringing his hands together as he harshly ground his teeth. <em> What the hell is he doing here? </em> His nose wrinkled into a preemptive snarl, so he held the physical manifestation of mixed emotion in check so Gosha didn’t question him. <em> He didn’t even see him. </em></p><p>“What looks good, Legosi?” Gosha asked, tone curious as he skimmed through his own menu idly. “The soybean and vinegar salad sounds good, but I could also kill for some peach-roasted almond flour dumplings…”</p><p>Legosi drew in a breath, clenching his arms to make his hands stop shaking and bring his hands from under the platform and lifting the menu to hide his face. “Y-yeah,” he replied, clearing his voice to divert the attention from his wavering voice. “The creme-de-la-mushroom sounds nice, too,” he fabricated, ironing out his tone - <em> is there even a creme-de-la-mushroom on this menu? </em> His eyes adjusted to the page in front of him, and he let a long breath out of his nose as his eyes scanned the list of Chef’s Specialties and Most Popular orders, then hovering over the “Soup of the Day” category. “But… hm… the Kakitamajiru does seem to peak my interest… <em> What are you even saying? Does being in a fancy restaurant suddenly make you fancy? Has seeing </em> <em> him </em> <em> messed with your vocabulary or something? </em></p><p>“Mm, interesting choice,” Gosha hummed, bringing his hand to his chin and rubbing it thoughtfully. “I’ve never been a particular fan of egg products…” He peered around the pages, shooting Legosi a bright grin. “I’ll try it again, though! I’ll get the egg soup, and then the caper and chickpea pasta - I feel like trying something new tonight.” He closed his menu, the pages sounding a harsh <em> thwap </em>when Gosha closed the menu and set it on the table. “You know to get whatever you’d like, you hear me? I won’t let you order until you go over 2,600 yen with your order.”</p><p>Legosi hunched his shoulders, gritting his teeth and behind the menu as his ears repinned themselves against his head. <em> I’ve always hated it when he set a price minimum for me. </em> Sighing, he sent Gosha a quick thumbs up, partially choking a chuckle out from his throat. “Will do, grandpa,” he vaguely assured, eyes darting to the yen count. <em> 530 yen for the Kakitamajiru…  2120 yen for that Pesto and peppercorn fusilli… </em></p><p>“Are you gents prepared to order?”</p><p>Legosi jumped in his seat, snapping to face the middle-aged waiter, who stood straight at his attentive work stance - one he remembered well whenever one of his associates visited Legosi’s house when he was young, the one he remembered standing before more than once in his life. Miyagi, a dark tray with the cups in hand, set the platter on the table and placed both cups with their respective drinkers, the delicate <em> clink </em> on Gosha’s wine chalice heavily contrasting with the dull <em> thunk </em>of Legosi’s water glass.</p><p>The younger gray wolf set his eyes upon the small vessel, the slight ripples of the water dancing at the brim vibrantly under the lusterless luminescence of the isolated sect of the room. Carefully, he wrapped his gray fingers around the reservoir, lifting and taking a light sip from the very edge so he didn’t disturb the water’s terpsichore enough to make it spill. The cool water trickled down his throat, acting as an improvised tonic for his mind - <em> I can do this, just be calm, Gosha will know what to do... </em></p><p>“I’ll take the Kakitamajiru soup and the caper and chickpea pasta,” Gosha listed, glancing up at Miyagi and smiling politely, taking his reading glasses off, stuffing them back in his pocket and folding his hands on the table.</p><p>Legosi goggled at his grandfather, jaw dropping agape. <em> He doesn’t even recognize him! </em></p><p>Miyagi shifted his attention to Legosi, raising a brow. “Your order, sir?”</p><p>Legosi coughed, breaking his fixated gaze from Gosha and turning to Miyagi. “Uh, I’ll take the Kakitamajiru as well, with, uh, the pesto and peppercorn fusilli,” he ordered, stomach clenching in irritation anticipation as Miyagi listed his items down.</p><p>“I’ll take your menus.”</p><p>Legosi blinked, mindlessly groping for the parchment as Gosha handed his menu in. After floundering with his own menu, he finally grabbed ahold of it and reached it out towards Miyagi, who gently took it out of his hands.</p><p>The rough sensation of Miyagi’s fingers on the back of his hands made Legosi gasp, retracting his hands quickly and causing both menus to fly out of Miyagi’s hands.</p><p>“S-sorry!” Legosi yelped, bending down swiftly to retrieve the menu and rearing back when he felt the unmistakable <em> crack </em>of another skull against his head (“Sorry!”).</p><p>Miyagi grunted, straightening back up and rubbing his temple. “My apologies,” he offered bluntly, stooping down once more to acquire the menus and stack them. “I will be back with your meals,” he recovered, nodding and once again leaving the duo to themselves.</p><p>Legosi inhaled shakily, burying his head in his hands at his blunder. The fact that it was <em> Miyagi </em> only further perpetuated the heat that rose to his face. <em> Last time you saw him you fought him, and you’re already screwing things up again. </em></p><p>Gosha chuckled wholeheartedly and reached into his pocket, pulling out the small, opaque baggie that held his utensils and setting it on the table. “Nice one Legosi,” he teased playfully, reaching across the table and  lightly slapping his hands away from his face. “Cheer up, kid, he’s a <em> waiter </em>, he’s seen much worse than some weird kid who knocked heads with him.”</p><p>Legosi let his arms fall, a half-smile half-cringe forming on his face. “I guess so,” he supposed, reaching to the top of his head where the collision took place. “That kinda hurt…”</p><p>Again, a silence fell, and Gosha reached his hand toward the wall the table was against, pulling a newspaper from the black, laced basket that held different sorts of magazines and papers - some of which Legosi was certain were similar to the mag Gouhin had once entrusted him with.</p><p>So Legosi remained still after bringing his elbows to the tabletop, propping his head on his hands and nervously pondering the preceding events as his heart palpitated in his throat. <em> What the hell was </em> <em> that </em> <em> ? </em> Legosi internally lamented, flexing and digging his legs into the ground instead of his arms, as to not distract Gosha from his paper. <em> He didn’t even recognize him… should I tell him? Should I not? </em>His heart squeezed, forcing him to blink as he attempted to keep his body from shaking. It was a conflict - the unsated and vengeful vehemence he felt toward Miyagi was certainly present - the injustice was ingrained into his bones, etched into his mind.</p><p><em> So </em> <em> why </em> <em> is my tail wagging? </em></p><p>The audible <em> thump, thump, thump </em>of his tail against the wall to his right was painfully indiscreet. Growling lowly, he flexed his tail to stiffen it up and threw it down, heat rushing to his face when Gosha poked his head around the newspaper and raised a brow. “You alright, kid?” he asked, setting the paper aside and leaning toward Legosi. “I told you it’s okay, and he’s probably seen worse-”</p><p>“I-I’m fine, grandpa,” he assured, moving his hands to the table and folding them and straightening out his back, ears perking. “Just… embarrassed, that’s all.”</p><p>Gosha’s eyes narrowed doubtfully, clicking his fingers against the table. “What’s wrong with you, boy-?”</p><p>
  <em>“The waiter is <span class="u">Miyagi</span>.”</em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I had to force myself to wrap it up like this or else this chapter would be around 8k words :D I'm starting to think of a LOT more content guys!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Hatred Can Love, Too</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks again for being patient! These past two-three weeks have been especially discouraging and unmotivated, but I THINK I can start a more balanced "writing schedule" of a chapter every two weeks. This will be more of a guideline than a solid timeframe, though. College is fun, guys!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Chapter 7: Hatred Can Love, Too</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>“Your food, gentlemen.”</p><p>Platinum trays in his clawed hand and ceramic plates held in the other, Miyagi gently laid the food-adorned platters in front of the respective animals, the plates <em> clinking </em> lightly upon the wooden table. The steam visibly rose from the food like dancing spirits, and the tantalizingly familiar scent of the egg soup especially made Legosi’s stomach growl; he could almost <em> see </em>the flavors of his pesto.</p><p>
  <em> Thump, thump, thump. </em>
</p><p>Legosi and Gosha remained silent as they took their food from the platters and swiftly transferred them onto their plates. Gosha had remained silent when Legosi blurted the identity of their waiter, and only now did his tongue flick out. Legosi drew in a breath and held it, focusing acutely on Gosha worriedly - <em> that’s what he always does when he’s about to fight. </em> He studied that in school - komodo dragons often stuck their tongues when they felt threatened or aggressive, and that was their way of assessing a situation. <em> Grandpa!-  </em></p><p><em> Thump, thump, thump. </em> Legosi covered his face with his hands, grimacing behind the wall. <em> Stupid tail…! </em></p><p>“Is there anything else I can be of assistance to you tonight?” Miyagi offered, standing tall at his attentive waiter pose, his prim and proper tone contrasting with his smooth and dominant bartender prose.</p><p>A brief moment passed, and Gosha tamed his tongue, turning his head slowly to Miyagi as if it were heavy-leaden. “Yes, actually,” he answered tersely, locking eyes with the middle-aged wolf’s gaze as his eyes narrowed. “I believe I’ve seen you, somewhere. A thousand times before.” He stroked his chin with his scaly fingers, the surreal scraping noise ringing ominously in the secluded sect of the restaurant. “Who could you be?”</p><p>Legosi’s eyes widened, a small, worried growl escaping out of his throat as his neck fur bristled. He shot his hands under the table, digging his fingers into his fine jeans and feeling the prick of his claws against his rough fur and stared holes into his thighs. <em> What are you </em> <em> doing </em> <em> ?! </em></p><p>The older wolf blinked, but otherwise remained stationary and stoic, brows furrowing in convincing confusion. “I apologize, sir, I have no recollection of ever acquainting with a komodo dragon besides the rare guest. You happen to be the first komodo dragon to dine with us this year,” he mused, tilting his head slightly and squinting his eyes in what seemed to be an attempt to conjure a memory. His firm-set mouth finally loured slightly as he shook his head. “No, I’m not sure,” he reported apologetically, eyes reverting back their formal leer. “Perhaps you’ve met with other wolves that look like me - many wolves get confused for each other because we have similar facial structures.” He turned to Legosi, smirking and nodding. “Isn’t that right?”</p><p>Legosi stiffened as his tail shot into the air, the acute lack of thumping bringing heat to his face when he made eye contact with Miyagi. “Uh-uh… yeah,” he mumbled punily, kneading his claws into his legs and staring into his soup, the reflection mercifully distorting his image so he didn’t have to see how pathetic he was acting. <em> God, get ahold of yourself. </em></p><p>His matter-of-fact answer and offer of alternative reasoning. His smile. The assuring gaze and the light humor that glistened in it.</p><p>It was as if he had reached his arm down Legosi’s larynx and pricked his heart with his claws, the saccharine infusion within the ungues effusively injecting itself into his bloodstream and tenderly filling each chamber of his heart. The notion brought a dizzying warmth to his brain, desperately gulping in cool lungfuls of the attention into his burning lungs as if he’d been suffocated from the lack thereof. However, a malignant darkness in the pit of his stomach stretched itself to his throat, coating his heart and Miyagi’s hand in tenebrous, indelible ink; it made him want to stand to his feet and scream atrocities, to spit and snarl, to wring his hands around Miyagi’s throat until he could no longer breath, to suffocate and drain the life out of <em> himself. </em></p><p><em> When was the last time he smiled at me? </em> he thought to himself, the texture of the denim fabric scraping against his claws, a temporary sanctuary that held him in place as he slowly raked them down to his knees. He clenched his jaw and grit his teeth. <em> Who the </em> <span class="u"> <em> hell </em> </span> <em> are you to smile at <span class="u">me</span>? </em></p><p>Gosha’s nostrils flared, eyes widening for a slip second before reverting back to his neutral facial features. “I’m sure your devilish looks have the potential to steal any woman from their father’s arms,” Gosha retorted with acidic adulation, interlocking his fingers and drumming his nails on his scaled epidermis as he pulled one leg over the other, eyes narrowing further. “Who knows?” he drawled bleakly, a smug smile playing across his face along with the scintillating light that reflected off his scales. “Perhaps you could pass on your features to your son. Or perhaps your… <em>courteous </em>and serious personality. He’d be a great mix of you and your wife, I think, because you have great taste in women. At least, you have great taste <em>for </em>women,” he added, tone dropping the light façade and pitch at once as his eyes transformed into slits.</p><p>Miyagi’s eyes widened, and he took a step back, the <em> click </em> of his dress shoe echoing in the dim ambience. “S-sir-”</p><p>“It’s been a while, Miyagi,” Gosha uttered potently, slowly rising to his feet and towering over the wolf, tongue flicking out as his eyes opened further. “Quite convenient we run into each other now, isn’t it?”</p><p>“E-excuse me!” Legosi abruptly interrupted, slamming his hands onto the table to propel himself to his feet. He clumsily made his way out from behind the table, scattering his silverware onto the tiled floor beneath his feet. He pushed his way through Miyagi and Gosha, shuddering at the contact. “I need to use the restroom…!”</p><p>The young gray wolf looked down at the tile and held his breath, as if it would attract less attention from the other diners. <em> The tiles resemble the mask party’s flooring, </em> he couldn’t help but note as he swiftly strode away from the situation, head down and tail tucked under his pants. The conflicting gaiety and abhorrence churned within his core, brewing and distributing apprehensive nausea throughout his body; his heart pumped vivaciously within his ribcage as he eventually made his way behind the heavy oak doors that housed the restrooms, and he slammed a stall door behind him. He finally sighed a heavy breath, bringing his hands to clutch his sternum and sinking to his knees as he released the trapped toxicity within his heart; he growled miserably through clenched teeth, raising one of his fists and slamming it into the polished flooring, the echo that bounced off the walls of the acoustic room drowning the unbearable thoughts that bounced of the walls of his mind and heart. The smoldering flames within his body made it impossible to see when the self-destructive behavior resulted in tears stinging the back of his corneas, and eventually the velocity of his fists decreased and the intervals between each strike increased, until eventually he ceased altogether. With his left arm raw, Legosi felt a new wave of nausea rise within his stomach as his wrist throbbed, and he jerked back and sniffled when a dull stabbing notion sent a wave of pins and needles up and down his arm when he tried to move it. <em> ...Did I break it? </em></p><p>Legosi propped himself on his right foot, slowly pulling himself back to his feet as he mindfully cradled his arm, wincing at the physical torment, and after a few moments of rocking the injured limb and tenderly moving it, he could extend the limb with only a sharp ache. <em> I guess not </em>.</p><p>A shuddering breath balled up within his gut and rattled through his hollow rib cage, and expelled from his throat as he reached behind himself with his good arm to unlatch the stall.</p><p>He decided to ignore the flooring that was conveniently cracked where he had just finished pounding.</p><p>Swinging the broad door open, Legosi suddenly remembered that he had left his grandpa with the male he hated the most. Fear for his grandpa tugged his heart toward their table, while fear of Miyagi tugged his heart out the door and running for the hills - yet he found himself stepping forward anyway, <em> moving </em>towards the things he feared for and of the most at the moment.</p><p>He stopped at the corner that Gosha and Miyagi would be around, heart throbbing in his chest - would they still be standing there, or silently fighting, or would they both be gone? </p><p>Would one of them be dead?</p><p>His chin tilted up, and he took a deep breath, holding it as he quickly walked into the hallway, head snapping to the right, eyes darting everywhere in an attempt to see everything that had taken place - but relief warmed his next breath when he only saw Gosha and no evidence of bloodshed, or even a fight.</p><p>“Grandpa?” he choked out worriedly, reaching out his hand as he stepped towards the komodo dragon. He set his hand lightly on his hard shoulder and edged his way around to his side, subconsciously afraid of his reaction to the contact. The reptile’s mien appeared conflicted, vacant yet clear as if either deep in thought or not thinking at all. “...Are you okay?”</p><p>Gosha coughed, rearing his head back and looking to Legosi, an uncharacteristically jovial grin unevenly spreading across his face. “Oh… hey, Lego,” he slurred, lazily gesturing to the seat across from him. “Go ahead and sit, the food’s gettin’ cold.”</p><p>
  <em> Lego? </em>
</p><p>Legosi blinked, taking his hand off his grandfather and looking at the table, decorated with attractive foods and cutlery. The steam had long since departed, and the food was certainly cold, by now - it wouldn’t be in the least bit enjoyable if they sat to eat now.</p><p>Then something caught Legosi’s eye - three clear, shiny and very empty wine glasses glinted in the incandescent light, making the wolf’s eyes widen marginally. <em> Oh. </em>He turned his head back to Gosha, pointing dumbly at the hollow reservoirs of intoxication. “...W-what happened?”</p><p>“Hmm?” Gosha hummed, blinking ladenly and swerving his head to Legosi and vaguely following the track of his finger. “Oh, oh, nothin’ happen’,” the old lizard assured, shaking his head. “I jus’ drank a glasha wine or-”</p><p>“We’re going,” Legosi decided brusquely, assisting his grandfather in standing up as he bumped his own silverware off the table. He quickly reached down and snatched them up, heedless of the chance of being corroded away with Gosha’s venom; when he didn’t wither away, he stuffed them in his pocket before Gosha could notice. “Did-did anything happen with - <em> Miyagi?” </em> Legosi interrogated, choking on the name as guided Gosha by the arm from the table</p><p>“No, no, he jus’ got up when ya left, and the fucker said to enjoy my meal,” Gosha recounted, wheezing out a short breath that reeked of alcohol. “Walked away all fancy-like, like a god or something.”</p><p><em> How much alcohol was in those three glasses? </em> Legosi couldn’t help but think as they passed the reception desk - “Have… four to-go boxes ready, and two soup to-go containers, as well,” the gray wolf instructed over his shoulder to a very confused looking Mark, who quickly nodded his head and waddled from his position at the greeter’s booth.</p><p>When Legosi settled Gosha in the truck and buckled him up in the passenger seat, he walked back through the double doors and to the tables where they had sat, his footsteps eerily loud against the tile as the members of the <em> Picky Eater </em>turned to look at him. Their eyes were phantom weights against his shoulders and neck, some gogglers’ gazes heavier than the leerers who quickly lost interest in the wolf boy who helped his old and drunk komodo dragon companion. A strange combination, indeed.</p><p>When Legosi found their table, the white boxes and opaque soup containers he requested were already on the table, next to the food, and when he finished packing, he lifted each container from the bottom of the stack and headed towards the receptionist desk.</p><p>“Any bill?”</p><p>The raccoon host clasped his hands and laced his fingers together, almost as if he were begging for his life, and his irises constricted slightly. “Um… y-yes,” Mark replied, opening a black folder on the micro-sized podium that wasn’t there before. He hastily fumbled with the bill, the paper crackling as he handled them. “I-I actually… well, one of our waiters paid for you and your friend in full,” Mark explained, extending his small and holding out his hand that held the white slip. “The one that served you, I believe. I think he was happy we finally had a komodo dragon guest. He said something about being close to one, before.” He ended with an attempted good-natured chuckle, which came out weak and nervous.</p><p>Legosi’s eyes locked on the small piece of paper for a moment, inhaling deeply through his nose and exhaling it forcefully as he whipped his hand down and snatched the receipt from the raccoon’s slim fingers, causing him to <em> yip </em>quietly and jump back a pace.</p><p>As expected, the receipt read their meal choices (Legosi especially noticed the extra drinks Gosha ordered) and that a little over six thousand yen was paid off, and a familiar, graceful calligraphy blessed the bottom of the parchment where the signature line was placed. The gray wolf’s father was gifted in the art of signatures, especially for a male.</p><p>But what caught Legosi’s eye was the footnote below it, written in a blocky but just as perfect font:</p><p><em> Tuesday-Friday, 7 PM - 3 AM<br/></em> <em> Bring your mask </em></p><p>Legosi’s eyes widened, pupils shrinking as he stood there dumbly; his tail erected and kinked as his ears perked forwards, which contrasted to his sinking heart and the feeling of dread that accompanied it.</p><p>
  <em> He wants me to…? </em>
</p><p>“Uh - I - thank you,” Legosi sputtered, shoving the receipt in his pocket. “H-have a great night, sir.” He bowed quickly as he could with the to-go boxes in hand, and the raccoon followed suit, calling out a broken “Have a great night!” as Legosi turned towards the door and used his foot to open it.</p><p>When he got to the car, one peek through the window revealed that Gosha was dead asleep, solid head leaning against the passenger seat window and jaw slack. Legosi noticed a small dribble of spit leaking from the corner of his mouth, and with a start he realized it was his poison. Legosi’s body jumped into double time as he opened the door and placed the food by the back window, seating himself in the driver’s seat.</p><p>
  <em> Keys. </em>
</p><p>Muzzle pointing in every direction, his chest began to feel tighter as the minutes passed by - <em> Someone’s going to see us like this, ask if I need help, they’ll ask where my parents are, </em> <span class="u"> <em> I can’t afford that </em> </span> <em> - </em></p><p>A small gleam took Legosi’s attention, and upon closer inspection, he realized that the keys were on Gosha’s keychain that was wrapped around his hand.</p><p>
  <em> Oh no. </em>
</p><p>Gently, he reached out his hand and touched the cool keys, not eager to accidentally wake up his grandfather from his drunken slumber. When the komodo dragon didn’t move, he wrapped his hand around it, slowly attempting to pull the keys away from Gosha. He didn’t budge.</p><p>
  <em> He’s pretty asleep. </em>
</p><p>After some manhandling, gentle coercion and calculated risks, Legosi managed to take Gosha’s hand and hang it on the keychain strap as he twisted the key into ignition, the old vehicle spurting to life as if abruptly interrupted from its nap. Sighing heavily, Legosi placed his hands on the wheel, drumming his fingers softly on the leather.</p><p>Just before he pressed the gas pedal, however, one thing was suddenly made clear to Legosi, the diamond transparency of the epiphany making him terse; his temple began to pound in his skull and rattling his brain as he clenched his jaw and gritted his teeth.</p><p>
  <em> I don’t know how to drive. </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Shorter chapter this because I felt it appropriate to end it there! Fee free to leave a comment - every comment really does encourage me a lot more, even if it's criticism - in fact, I welcome criticism! That's how you get better in life: taking constructive criticism and applying it.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Leave</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Guys. 20 units of college credits. Don't do it.<br/>I am burnt out, so I will not be writing until December! I am sorry, but I don't want to throw you guys a horrible chapter... even though this one might constitute as such. I'll see you all in December, and thanks for reading so far!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Chapter 8: Leave</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>12:00 PM.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Legosi stretched open his eyes, the first thing entering his eyes the obnoxiously bright numbers on the alarm clock. The dull throb in the back of his brain made him want to close his eyes once more and feel the peace of the descent into slumber, but the distant clambering of kitchenware made him open his eyes further.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I won’t be able to go back to sleep.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Pulling himself up upright and yawning widely, he briefly drew his blankets that he stole from the bathroom closet tighter around himself in a silent plea for more rest before unwrapping himself from his warm cocoon and pushing himself to his feet. After reaching up in a stretch, his head swivelled aimlessly in a search for his t-shirt he’d laid out, eyes settling on it soon after; he reached for the red fabric on the end table and brought it to his head, slipping it on as he stepped towards the door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When he stepped out of his room, a quick look to his left revealed his grandfather fingering through his spice rack, a pan on the oven and the faint smell of egg floating from the steam that rose from the oven. He looked horrible - his eyes were sunken, as if he were dead, and a matte white substance leaked from the sides of his face and his nose; his jaw was set lowly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Grandpa?”</span>
</p><p><span>Gosha cringed, bringing his hands to his ears. “My boy, don’t be so </span><em><span>loud,</span></em><span>”</span> <span>Gosha hissed, eventually bringing his hands back from the sides of his head and studying them. His face sunk even lower when it clicked that the white goo came from his ears, and he took the pan and dumped it over in the empty sink before gently setting it down, sniffing lightly. “Legosi, I’m sorry,” he whispered, eyes downcast as he opened the cabinet below him to pull out a massive round pail. “I don’t... feel so well this morning.” He submerged his hands in what Legosi could only assume was his disinfectant and tenderly wiped his ear holes and nose to rid himself of the gunk. “I was going to make you breakfast, but-”</span></p><p>
  <span>“I-it’s okay, grandpa,” Legosi assured, lowering his voice to accommodate Gosha and holding his hands out. </span>
  <em>
    <span>He’s probably getting over a hangover. </span>
  </em>
  <span>The gray wolf remembered several times in his young life where Leano had ushered a muttering and disgruntled Miyagi to the breakfast table to eat in the mornings. He also remembered the rank stench of stale alcohol that expelled from his mouth during these mornings, and the fact that he couldn’t play much when Miyagi woke up on the wrong side of the bed. “M...maybe try going back to sleep?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gosha nodded slowly after a moment, chest heaving a slow sigh. “...Okay,” he eventually agreed, reaching up and opening his mahogany cabinets to pull out a shiny glass, filling it to the brim with tap water and putting it to his lips. He sipped shakily, placing it on the counter with a dull thunk, making Gosha wince slightly. “I… I should probably eat, though,” he reasoned, turning himself around and weakly pulling the handle of his stainless steel refrigerator. “I think I have some leftover spaghetti-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Grandpa,” Legosi said, keeping his voice to a low rumble and stepping forward cautiously. “H-how about you just sit down and drink some of that water, and I’ll reheat your spaghetti.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Almost obediently, Gosha nodded, turning to wrap his fingers around the water glass as he began his journey back to the table, shuffling his feet the whole way as Legosi pulled the tupperware out of the fridge and stuck it in the microwave, punching in two minutes before pressing the start button. The sun shone brilliantly through the blinds of the kitchen window, casting everything in a cold light; it made the floor feel less comfortable to step on and made everything feel more fragile to the touch. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When the microwave beeped, he took the tupperware, grabbed a fork from the drawer below the microwave and tiptoed his way to Gosha, setting the food down before him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you,” Gosha grunted, setting his elbows on the table and leaning over his food as he took the fork and twirled it in his noodles. For a moment he remained like that, simply turning his fork in mindless circles. “...Legosi?” Gosha eventually asked, slowly turning his head toward his grandson.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When Legosi’s eyes met Gosha’s, he sensed a completely new sentiment - they weren’t Gosha’s usual loving grandpa eyes, or even his protective slits that shifted into while protecting him or when he got angry. The raw pain amplified by loneliness that reflected in Gosha’s eyes hit Legosi in the gut. Just how long had Gosha been living on his own, with no one to talk to? This was yet another angle to his grandfather - a more honest version of him, another mask that fell right in front of Legosi. “Yes, grandpa?” he answered, folding his hands together nervously.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gosha didn’t say anything for a while, looking at Legosi as if making sure he was really there. His mouth opened and clicked back shut more than once; Legosi could hear Gosha’s mind clicking and turning, mentally discarding ideas and things that would have been perfectly fine to say at that moment. “...Please just be careful,” he finally sighed, shoulders hunching over as if a weight that had been placed over him finally took its physical toll. “I…” He swallowed thickly, eyes beginning to water up as he looked forward into nothing absently. “It’s clear that I can’t protect you anymore,” he choked out, folding his fingers together tightly. “And whatever this situation is with… Yafya, and... now you’ve had to see Miyagi twice in one week, and you’re trying to manage a relationship with a </span>
  <em>
    <span>rabbit </span>
  </em>
  <span>of all animals…” He brought his scaled hand to his forehead, rubbing it lighty. “I don’t know what to </span>
  <em>
    <span>do</span>
  </em>
  <span> anymore, Legosi. I can’t fight this monster for you like I could when you were younger, and you can’t just hide behind my hand anymore. Things are different. Please, just be safe. I don’t want to think what I’m going to do if you step in the wrong place and get yourself </span>
  <em>
    <span>killed-</span>
  </em>
  <span>'' he stopped, a sob pressing itself against his throat, and he shook his head, setting his elbows on the table and pressing both his hands to his face, sighing shakily. “You’re all I have left.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Legosi’s jaw gaped at Gosha’s sudden vulnerability, a solid block of conflicted confusion weighing down his chest. </span>
  <em>
    <span>I had... no idea he felt this way,</span>
  </em>
  <span> he thought to himself, bringing his own hand to his head and rubbing it, almost overwhelmed by the display of emotion. He knew this was all </span>
  <em>
    <span>his </span>
  </em>
  <span>fault: one half of him knew he wasn’t nearly as careful as he knew he should be, that he was too reckless and put himself in harm’s way too often, but the other wolf within him was firm in that the nature of his existence was dangerous. He’d fought the gang he now worked besides upon the rare chance he ever got to see Louis, he had trained with the Back Alley Market psychologist and put his health, schooling, and life on the line for his damned sense of justice and confused feelings of love. In retrospect, it wasn’t hard to see how someone like Jack could get so frustrated at him for leaving the school and for putting his own sense of direction before his childhood friend who cared about him so much. It also was easy to see why Haru went on her angry rants about his well-being. By fighting for love, he was fighting love and pushing his loved ones away - but he </span>
  <em>
    <span>had </span>
  </em>
  <span>to fight this way, or he would never have a chance at marriage. And now he had Miyagi to balance on his plate, as well.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After several moments of silence, Legosi cleared his throat, putting his hand over his muzzle. “...Grandpa,” he started cautiously, conscious of the tension in the room and the fact Gosha was still suffering from his hangover. He opened his mouth and shut it, sighing before he continued. “You’ve done more for me than I can say - you’ve fed me and bathed me, you practically raised me even after I blamed you for Mom’s death. So, uh…” He laid his hand on Gosha’s solid and cool shoulder, taking a seat next to him. “Thank you. I promise I’ll be careful in the future, okay? Don’t worry about me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Another moment passed in silence, and Legosi briefly wondered if the old man had gone to sleep in his position. Gosha’s moved his hands from his face, however, and his eyes opened as he folded his fingers in front of him, turning to Legosi and smiling, after visible effort. “...Thank you,” he eventually said, wrapping his arms around Legosi in a half-drunken attempt at a hug, which Legosi reciprocated. “...Who drove us home, by the way?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Legosi’s eyes widened, mouth gaping a little bit before he answered. “That’s a funny story,” he started, laughing sheepishly and pulling away from the hug. “There was a passerby who saw that you were asleep, and the truck wouldn’t start. He reached out to help us, and eventually he got the truck started and he offered to drive us home since he was headed to around this area himself. Pretty funny, if you ask me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Legosi </span>
  <em>
    <span>hated </span>
  </em>
  <span>lying to his grandpa, but he knew if he told him that </span>
  <em>
    <span>he </span>
  </em>
  <span>had been the one to drive them both home, Gosha wouldn’t forgive himself. Mercifully, the highway was empty the whole way home, so Legosi had plenty of opportunity to learn as he went.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That is funny,” Gosha replied, leaning back in his chair slightly. “Who was he?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, Drake. Yes, Drake - another komodo dragon named Drake.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gosha scoffed, shaking his head. “A popular name for komodo dragons nowadays,” he said. “Almost every stinkin’ couple names at least one of their children </span>
  <em>
    <span>Drake.</span>
  </em>
  <span>” He sighed and stood up, putting his hand to his head and sitting back down. “...Can you help me back to bed?” he asked punily. “I can hardly walk.”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Legosi stood and helped lift Gosha out of his chair. “No problem,” he replied, a small tinge of worry edging his voice as he walked his grandpa down the hall. “Get yourself better,” he added once Gosha was laying in his bed and covered up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The old komodo dragon’s eyes closed, and Legosi waited until it was clear he was asleep before carefully twisting the cool doorknob and opening the door enough for him to slip out of the room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>~~~</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The rest of the week flew - Gosha recovered from his hangover and they didn’t go out anywhere after the incident at the Picky Eater. The odd duo were at the crowded train station - it was a Monday, and Legosi was beginning to have second thoughts about coming during lunchtime as a crowd of small herbivores pushed their way past the taller animals, mindlessly chatting among one other or on the phone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When they finally waded their way through the crowd and Legosi was near the door, he turned to Gosha, lifting a hand in farewell. “I’ll keep you posted about things,” he promised, knowing fully well he couldn’t keep it. “And, uh… thanks for letting me stay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gosha also lifted his hand, the smile on his face only broadening. “Thank you for coming,” he replied warmly, putting his hand on Legosi’s shoulder. “And if you need anything, text or call me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Legosi nodded and smiled, the flow of the foot traffic bringing him to the inside of the train and eventually dumped him off into a seat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As the train rolled away, his last glimpse was a raised and scaled hand, the sunlight reflecting off of it in a brilliant array.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks again for readings so far! Remember - I will continue this starting December!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. ...</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Hey, guys.</p><p>I know I said I'd start writing in December, but there are so many things happening irl that I just can't keep up with it. So this is where I'm deciding to end Recalibrate. Am I going to pick it up again? Perhaps. But as of now, as much as it pains me, I really can't balance this and college. It really and truly hurts that I don't have the motivation for this anymore, and I am truly sorry - but finals are near and stakes are high. I figured that some sort of ending was due, so why not this?</p><p>Once again, thank you so much for your support throughout the chapters, and thank you for sticking with me through the one-shots as well. I will come and check on this every now and then to see if it strikes me to write this again. I have <em>one </em>more one shot I'm thinking of, though. At least we got to see a happy Legosi in the last chapter.</p><p>Thank you again.</p>
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